A citizen-initiated ballot measure to establish an age limit for congressional members is on the ballot in North Dakota’s primary election on June 11, 2024.
The campaign, Retire Congress North Dakota, submitted 42,107 signatures for the initiative on Feb. 9. At least 31,164 signatures needed to be valid to qualify for the ballot. On March 15, the secretary of state’s office announced that the campaign had submitted 32,370 valid signatures.
The ballot initiative, which is the first of its kind, would prohibit a person from being elected or appointed to the U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives if the person would reach the age of 81 by December 31 of the year before their term ends. The initiative includes a provision that, if a court decision prevents the enforcement of the age limit, any candidate who would otherwise be disqualified due to the age restriction would not be allowed to appear on the ballot for nomination or election to the House or Senate. However, if a court decision mandates that such a candidate must be included on the ballot, the initiative requires that a note be added next to the candidate’s name indicating the age the person would be at the end of their term. Specifically, the notice would read, “Candidate would be [age] years old by end of term.”
