For more than a century, North Dakotans have had the right to bring issues directly to the ballot when their elected officials won't act. That right — the citizen initiative — was built on a simple democratic principle: majority rules. Now, the North Dakota legislature wants to change that.

Legislators are sponsoring a measure for the November ballot that would require 60 percent of voters to approve any citizen-sponsored amendment to the state constitution — up from a simple majority. It sounds like a small tweak. It isn't.

Raising the threshold to 60 percent means that even when most North Dakotans agree on something, they can still lose. A measure supported by 59 out of every 100 voters would fail. This doesn't protect democracy — it tilts it in favor of the politicians already in power.

The citizen initiative process exists precisely because legislators don't always represent the full range of people they serve. Gerrymandering and one-party control have made it harder than ever to hold incumbents accountable at the ballot box. The initiative process is a safety valve — a way for everyday people, in rural towns and small cities alike, to be heard on the issues that matter most to them.

If legislators can pass a constitutional amendment with a simple majority, citizens deserve the same standard. Anything less is a two-tiered democracy — one set of rules for the powerful, and a harder set for everyone else.

We are calling on the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and Governor Kelly Armstrong to vote against any proposal that raises the approval threshold for citizen initiatives above a simple majority. One person, one vote — that's the foundation this process was built on. Don't let legislators weaken it now.