How the 2026 Election Could Lock in GOP Policies for Years

North Carolinians will vote on about 1,700 separate items in this midterm election. Just eight appear on every ballot: five statewide races and three proposed amendments to the state constitution. If passed, these amendments could long outlast the people elected this year.

The U.S. Senate race has received more than its fair share of coverage and advertising. Anyone with a mailbox, a YouTube account, a television, or a radio can’t avoid the battle between Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley. 

But the proposed constitutional amendments—two that promise to reduce North Carolinians’ tax burdens, and one that would cement voter ID requirements for all types of ballots in the state constitution—have received considerably less attention, perhaps unsurprisingly. A Catawba College/YouGov poll released in September 2025 found that just 7% of North Carolinians say they are “very familiar” with the state constitution. Another 20% said they weren’t familiar with it at all.

That hasn’t stopped the General Assembly from putting amendments on the ballot at a steady clip.

Frequently Proposed, Usually Approved

Since the current state constitution passed in 1970, 52 amendments have appeared on the ballot—an average of about one a year. Topics have ranged from the mundane (changing the title of the solicitor to district attorney) to the oddly specific (the constitutional right to hunt and fish).

Unlike voters in some states that have citizen-led initiative processes, North Carolinians have no formal role in determining which items make it to the ballot. If a constitutional amendment receives support from three-fifths of each chamber in the General Assembly, it appears on the ballot.

The governor may make a statement or give a speech, but the veto power does not apply to constitutional amendments. Putting an amendment before voters is solely at the discretion of the General Assembly.

The amendments that make it to the ballot tend to pass. Voters have approved 42 of 52 proposals since 1970.

Five of the 10 that failed involved public financing, including a 1993 amendment to allow local governments to issue certain bonds without voter approval. Four others would have changed the structure of government, including a 2018 amendment to revamp the state elections board. 

One particularly embarrassing and controversial rejection came in 1970, when voters refused to remove the constitution’s Jim Crow-era literacy test for voting.

Polling on this year’s constitutional amendments suggests that they, too, are likely to pass. A September Elon Poll found that about 65% of likely voters favor the amendment to require photo ID for all types of voting, 68% support setting a maximum income tax rate of 3.5%, and 71% support requiring limits on property tax increases by local governments.

Given that Republican legislators proposed these amendments, we would expect GOP voters to support them. It is perhaps more surprising that more than half of the Democrats polled backed the two tax amendments. People don’t like taxes—not even Democrats.

What’s the Point?

The curious thing is that the amendments proposed for 2026 won’t change much, if anything, about North Carolina’s government in the short term. 

State law already requires people to present ID to vote, the state income tax rate is already set to drop below 3.5% in 2027, and the property tax amendment would require legislation to actually be implemented.

So, why propose them?

The conventional wisdom holds that parties place items on the ballot to increase turnout among their voters. Even if people aren’t motivated to vote for a particular candidate, perhaps they will show up if there’s a red-meat item on the ballot.

Studies show that constitutional amendments can spur turnout when they focus on highly salient issues. For example, same-sex marriage amendments in 13 states in 2004 helped mobilize white evangelical Protestants for George W. Bush. 

But an emotional, personal issue like same-sex marriage is not equivalent to tax policy when it comes to voter awareness and engagement.

For the turnout effect to work, voters would have to know about the amendments and care enough about them to cast a vote when they otherwise would have stayed home. Broad support for capping taxes in a poll doesn’t necessarily mean people will feel motivated to show up and vote. Given that campaigns for U.S. Senate, Congress, state Supreme Court, and a host of General Assembly seats have overshadowed attention to the amendments, a substantial turnout boost seems unlikely.

Turnout, however, is only one potential benefit of amendments. Political parties are in a constant battle over issue ownership—the idea that when people think of a certain popular policy, they associate it with one party rather than the other. 

If North Carolinians associate the GOP with voter ID and lower taxes, Republicans see that as a win for their brand.

But these are the electoral and party-building consequences. We also need to consider the policy rationale.

In a purple state like North Carolina, neither party can bank on holding power forever. If the Republican-led General Assembly wants to ensure that their preferred policies stick around even after they’ve lost the majority, constitutional amendments offer a way to do so. 

Traditional laws can be reversed simply by passing a new law, but a constitutional amendment requires another constitutional amendment to undo it. That’s much harder.

Constitutional amendments offer a way to make a lasting public policy legacy for your party. They may not sway an election, but if they pass, they’ll linger long after the 2026 campaign signs come down.