Missouri voters on Tuesday rejected an attempt by the Republican-controlled Legislature to make it harder to pass citizen-sponsored amendments to the state’s constitution, preserving a tool that voters across the country have relied on to pass laws their legislatures would not.
The Legislature, like others across the country, had pushed back after voters approved citizen-sponsored amendments that expanded Medicaid, legalized marijuana and sports betting, established a right to abortion, raised the minimum wage and required paid sick leave.
The measure would have amended the state’s constitution to require a majority in each of the state’s eight congressional districts, rather than a simple majority statewide, to pass citizen-sponsored amendments. That would have been the highest threshold in any of the 18 states that allow citizen groups to place constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Opponents of the measure, including a state real estate association and abortion rights groups, said that under the measure, an amendment could win the support of 95 percent of the state’s voters but still fail, based on recent voter tallies. None of the four amendments Missouri voters have passed since 2020 have won in all congressional districts.
The higher threshold would not have applied to amendments placed on the ballot by the Legislature; those would have continued to require a simple majority to pass.
The amendment was the latest of the Legislature’s attempts to thwart citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives. After the amendment on the minimum wage and sick leave passed, the Legislature passed a law striking the sick leave provisions. It has placed an amendment on the ballot in November that would repeal a citizen-led initiative from 2024 that established a constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including abortion. That measure passed with 52 percent of the vote, and the vote in November is expected to be close.
Missouri has a long tradition of citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives dating back to the early 20th century. Those initiatives include several unsuccessful attempts at prohibition before a federal ban on alcohol took effect, and a successful effort in 1976 to repeal constitutional language that allowed the legislature to require segregated schools, 22 years after Brown v. Board of Education.
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