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For more than 110 years, Missouri citizens have had the right to propose laws or constitutional amendments through the initiative petition process. It is used only when Missouri citizens feel that their elected officials aren’t listening and it has been used across the political spectrum.
It’s a tradition and a process rooted in fairness: when a majority of voters vote “yes” on a ballot measure, it passes.
That’s democracy.
That’s majority rule.
Now we see that politicians in Jefferson City are working on ways to change the rules to silence the voice of the citizens with the intent to diminish majority rule.
Lawmakers are pushing a deceptive proposal to end majority rule on ballot measures. SJR 47 would require a concurrent, actually a double majority, to win: a majority of the popular vote statewide plus a majority of Missouri House districts. This is an unnecessary hurdle that would be virtually impossible to overcome.
There is no other election that requires a concurrent majority vote. The irony is that these same politicians are elected by simple majority. In fact, if this bill passes, it needs only a simple majority of the legislature to put it on the ballot.
If this bill were to pass, it would mean that actually a small minority of voters—representing just a handful of legislative districts — could overrule the will of a statewide majority on every ballot measure in the future.
That means even if a majority of Missourians vote yes on a proposal, it could still fail. That’s not democracy. That is not fair. It would not be “one person, one vote”. It would be a rigged system where some votes count more than others.
Politicians claim they’re trying to “protect” the Missouri Constitution from outside influence. But the current process is extremely difficult. It requires tens of thousands of signatures from citizens across the state and a majority vote by the people to pass. That’s not easy, and it shouldn’t be. But when a majority of Missourians vote to support a law, it should become law.
The politicians also say the process is overrun by special interests. That’s simply not true. The initiative petition process was designed to give regular Missourians, not lobbyists or partisan politicians, a voice in our democracy.
Over the years, it’s been used in a variety of ways: to expand access to health care, raise the minimum wage, create the nonpartisan court plan, and add a tax to support state parks and conservation, for example. These aren’t “special interests.”
These are the people of Missouri taking action when their lawmakers refuse to.
When a majority of Missourians voted yes to Medicaid expansion, fair elections, and reproductive freedom, lawmakers tried to block implementation or repeal the results. Last week, the Missouri Senate spent more than 10 hours debating a bill that would overturn the paid sick days law passed by over 57% of Missourians last November.
Now, they want to change the rules entirely—to make sure an initiative petition never happens again.
These are politicians who want to silence your voice. They want to stop you from having a say in the issues that impact your family, your future, and your freedom.
Do not let them.
The League of Women Voters of Missouri has defended democracy in this state for over a century. Our mission is to empower voters. We believe in majority rule. We believe in fairness in the election process.
Make your voice heard now before it is too late.