Ellen Chaffee leads a discussion on the BadAss Grandmas for Democracy on July 28, 2025, in Moorhead, Minn. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
By: Jeff Beach
MOORHEAD (North Dakota Monitor) — A leader of the BadAss Grandmas for Democracy on Monday encouraged voters to push back against two proposals from the North Dakota Legislature to change the state constitution.
Dina Butcher, part of the group that was the driving force behind creating the Ethics Commission in North Dakota, said the two measures are the Legislature’s way of discouraging citizen-initiated measures to change the constitution.
One measure would require approval of 60% of the state’s voters to pass an initiated measure; the other would limit citizen initiated measures to a single subject.
The BadAss Grandmas, during an event at the Moorhead Public Library, noted that if either measure had been in place in 2018, the year North Dakota voters approved creating the Ethics Commission, the commission would not exist today.
Voters in 2018 approved Measure 1 creating the Ethics Commission with about 54% of the vote. The measure also covered changes to campaign finance contributions, rule changes for lobbyists and conflict of interest rules.
In 2026, the 60% ballot measure will be voted on during the November general election. The single subject rule will be on the ballot in the June 2026 primary.
“Both of those measures are very much undermining the voice of the people,” Vicki Voldal Rosenau of Valley City said from the audience.
In supporting the 60% approval threshold during the legislative session, Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, said the state’s constitution should have a higher standard than changing state law.
North Dakota voters in 2024 rejected a measure that would have limited future measures to a single subject, among other changes.
The Legislature approved a third topic for a statewide vote in 2026. Voters in the November election will consider changes to the term limits provision added to the state constitution in 2022.
If passed, lawmakers would be able to serve for up to 16 years in one chamber. It also clarifies that partial terms, such as being appointed by a district executive committee to fill a vacant seat in the Legislature, would not count toward the term limit total.
A yes vote also would also repeal a section of the term limit law that prohibits the Legislature from amending, repealing or altering the term limits portion of the law.
The BadAss Grandmas presentation focused on the history of the group that created 2018’s Measure 1 and the struggles to implement the Ethics Commission in the years since.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong has questioned the scope of the commission’s authority and
Attorney General Drew Wrigley recently accused Ethics Commission Executive Director Rebecca Binstock and her staff of inexperience and poor judgment.
The allegations came after the Ethics Commission released a report that stated the Attorney General’s Office did not fully cooperate with a commission investigation. Wrigley has denied this claim.
Butcher said she believes the Governor’s Office and Attorney General’s Office are undermining the commission.
“The opposition that we’re facing now from both the governor’s office and the attorney general, recently maligning our present executive director … is really, really irritating,” Butcher said.
The Ethics Commission has said it is examining its relationship with the Attorney General’s Office.
Ellen Chaffee, a former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, led Monday’s discussion for the BadAss Grandmas. She said she had been advised that it would take 10 years to implement the Ethics Commission.
“We’re working with the ethics staff as best we can,” Chaffee said, but encouraged attendees to let elected officials know there is support for the commission.
Butcher, a former Republican candidate for North Dakota agriculture commissioner, was recognized at an event before the presentation for her work with the BadAss Grandmas. Butcher is moving to Washington state.
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