Voters in North Dakota on Tuesday backed a state constitutional amendment that would impose age restrictions on congressional candidates.
The new measure bans people from running for a House or Senate seat in North Dakota "if that person could attain 81 years of age by December 31st of the year immediately preceding the end of the term."
61% of voters on Tuesday approved the measure, while 39% opposed it.
Consider this nothing more significant than a strongly worded letter. It is practically black-letter constitutional law that states can't add restrictions to federal office candidacies. The Constitution sets those prerequisites, and those are applied consistently across all states. The only way to add such restrictions -- including term limits -- is to amend the Constitution.
This would require an Article V convention to accomplish; Congress would never pass this through both chambers with two-thirds majorities, as required.
Someone just wasted a lot of time and effort, in other words.
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