This requirement by itself is regarded by one authority on state
constitutions[B] as making amendment practically impossible for it
means that the indifference and inertia of the mass of the voters can
be a more serious enemy than active opposition; the man who does not
take the trouble to vote is as much to be feared as the man who votes
against.

[Footnote B: Dodd, W.F. Revision and Amendment of State
Constitutions.]

A majority vote is required by the constitution of Indiana that is so
extravagant as to have caused contradictory decisions in the courts.
The constitution reads: "The General Assembly ... (shall) submit such
amendment ... to the electors of the state, and if a majority of said
electors shall ratify." This was interpreted in one case (156 Ind.
104) to mean a majority of all votes cast at the election, but in a
later case (in re Denny) it was taken, exactly as it reads, to mean
all the people in the State eligible to vote--and this in the face of
the fact that the number of people eligible to vote is unknown even
to the Federal Census Department. Indiana also requires that while one
amendment is under consideration no other can be introduced. She is,
needless to say, one of the states whose constitution has never been
amended.

Other states besides Indiana have time requirements to insure the
immutability of their inspired state document. Thus the Vermont
Constitution can be amended only once in ten years--it was last
amended in 1913--and five others set a term of years before the same
amendment can be submitted again. Among these are New Jersey and