Before the Missouri General Assembly adjourns Friday, some legislators are still insisting that deceptive language be included in SJR 74/HJR 86, a measure that asks voters to eliminate the majority rule that has defined Missouri’s citizen initiative process for more than a century.
The House voted to have the ballot measure start with misleading provisions about foreign interference in initiative petitions and voting by non-citizens to hide the true impact of the measure and gain support from voters who don't know that those are already banned by law.
Senators who wanted the ballot candy removed filibustered for a record 50 hours this week. LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod commends Senators Lauren Arthur, Doug Beck, Karla May, Tracy McCreery, Angela Mosley, John Rizzo, Steve Roberts, Barbara Washington and Brian Williams for that stalwart effort.
If a conference committee can find a compromise or if the House agrees to remove the deceptive language, voters would be asked to require constitutional amendments not proposed by the legislature to receive both a statewide majority AND approval in five of the eight congressional districts to pass.
"Legislators recognize that the existing citizen’s-initiated petition process is very popular, nonpartisan, and rigorous," LWVMO Board Member Joan Gentry says in a letter to the editor published in the Springfield News Leader. "To counteract this popularity, the legislators responsible for the constitutional amendment changes being considered are attempting to place misinformation in the amendment."
"This proposal violates the principle of majority rule and would make it almost impossible for a citizen initiative petition to pass," says McLeod. "This would squelch the voice of the people and end majority rule."
"We need to protect the direct democracy of the initiative petition process to determine our future in Missouri, not permanently change our constitution to give up our rights," McLeod says. "Simple majority rule is common sense and already the law of the land in Missouri. One person, one vote.”
Protecting the state's initiative petition process is the LWVMO's top legislative priority in 2024. McLeod also testified in both houses against a bill to add more barriers to the initiative petition process. She said HB1749 "includes numerous unnecessary provisions which simply add more barriers to the process."
This tool of our democracy goes back to 1907, 12 years before the League of Women Voters was founded. It’s been used by both political parties when the legislature hasn’t addressed things people want, including Medicaid Expansion and medical marijuana.
The initiative petition was used to pass the Hancock Amendment that set taxation and spending limits. As former governor John Ashcroft said in 1992, “It is through the initiative process that those who have no influence with elective representatives may take their cause directly to the people.”
The League believes initiative petitions make Missouri’s democracy work, giving voters a stronger voice in state government. For more information, go to Home - Will of the People Missouri (willofthepeoplemo.com).
Above, Joplin members Patricia O'Roark and Donna Harlan talk with Republican Rep. Jamie Gregg as part of the Jan. 30 Voting Rights Advocacy Day.
