<P> From 1869 through 1968, there were submitted to the voters of North Carolina a total of 97 propositions for amending the Constitution of the State . All but one of these proposals originated in the General Assembly . Of those 97 amendment proposals, 69 were ratified by the voters and 28 were rejected by them . Due to the many amendments, many provisions in the constitution became antiquated, obsolete and ambiguous . Simply, the document had become difficult to read and interpret . By 1971, there were 200 state agencies . </P> <P> The draft that later became the Constitution of 1971 began with a study into needed changes by the North Carolina State Bar in 1967 . The study outlined a vastly improved and easily ratifiable document . The draft constitution logically organized topics and omitted obviously unconstitutional sections . The language and syntax was also updated and standardized . The study separated from the main document several amendments that it felt were necessary, but were potentially controversial . The main document passed the General Assembly in 1969 with only one negative vote in seven roll - call votes . On November 3, 1970, the proposed Constitution of 1971 was approved by a vote of 393,759 to 251,132 . </P> <P> Since the Constitution of 1971, there have been over twenty amendments . The majority of these amendments extend the rights of citizens, or extend the government the ability to issue bond . One notable exception was in 2012, when an amendment was added to limit the rights of citizens by constitutionally preventing recognition of same - sex marriage . The following are significant amendments made since the 1971 constitution: </P> <Dl> <Dd> <Ul> <Li> Prohibiting all capitation and poll tax . </Li> <Li> Omitting the limitation of $0.20 of property tax on the $100 valuation . </Li> <Li> Creating a state income tax to be computed on the same basis as the federal income tax </Li> <Li> Allowing the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to serve two consecutive terms (previously, office holders were limited to one term). </Li> <Li> Requiring the state run a balanced budget . </Li> <Li> Requiring judges to be lawyers . </Li> <Li> Adding Victims Rights to the Declaration of Rights . </Li> <Li> Giving the Governor the veto power . </Li> <Li> Prohibiting a person convicted of a felony from holding the office of county sheriff . </Li> <Li> Defining a marriage between one man and one woman to be the only legal domestic union to be recognized by the state . (See Amendment One .) </Li> </Ul> </Dd> </Dl>

How many amendments does the nc constitution have