RALEIGH - At least four constitutional amendments will likely come to a vote for North Carolina residents next year.

Ran Coble, executive director for the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, says that one of the new amendments would address the right of criminal defendant to a trial by a judge.

"...One [amendment] would allow a criminal defendent to waive a jury trial and have the trial just done by a judge."

Coble says the three other  proposed amendments from the General Assembly include a limit on the number of terms as Speaker of the House or President Pro-Tem, a nullification of a Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain, and a repeal of an outdated literacy test.