ST. PAUL, Minn. – Republicans in the Legislature have run into a legal obstacle in their quest to stop revisions to the state seal and flag. Their plan was to take the issue out of the hands of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and put it to a vote of the people. But Secretary of State Steve Simon says the state constitution doesn’t provide any sort of direction on ballot referendums. That means, he said, that a plebiscite would possible only by amending the constitution – a long, laborious process with the risk of all kinds of unintended consequences. Neither of the major GOP backers of a public vote is a lawyer – Senator Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and Representative Bjorn Olson, R-Fairmont. And apparently they haven’t done their homework on how government works. A rally Tuesday for a public vote drew only a few dozen supporters.
Proposed flag. Recommended after a year’s study by a special commission on state symbols.
Simon. Secretary of State since 2015. A Democrat. Earlier elected to four terms in the Legislature.
Verbatim
Simon: “Minnesota’s Constitution does not provide a process for citizen referendums or initiatives on legislative proposals. As such, a constitutional amendment would be needed – either to create a process for a referendum or approve the flag and/or seal directly. Constitutional amendments must be approved by both the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate before going to the voters.