Missouri House passes limits on direct democracy with ‘ballot candy’ to entice voters
The Republican-controlled Missouri House on Thursday passed legislation that would make amending the state constitution more difficult, setting up a potential fight with the Senate over language intended to entice voters to approve the measure.
The legislation, filed by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican running for Missouri secretary of state, would overhaul the state’s century-old initiative petition process that allows voters to place constitutional amendments on the ballot by gathering signatures. The vote comes amid an ambitious campaign to overturn the state’s abortion ban.
House lawmakers approved the measure 102-49, sending it back to the Senate. The legislation, SJR 74, includes deceptive language, stripped out by Senate Democrats, widely viewed by critics and even Coleman, the bill sponsor, as “ballot candy.”
The measure would ask voters to ban foreign interference in ballot measures and allow only U.S. citizens to vote on constitutional amendments – both are already illegal.
“This is a charade. We all know this resolution is chalk full of ballot candy. It’s designed to deceive,” Rep. David Tyson Smith, a Columbia Democrat, said.
The legislation — a constitutional amendment itself — would require future amendments to the state constitution be approved essentially twice, a majority vote in at least five of the state’s eight congressional districts and a majority vote statewide. Currently, constitutional amendments only need a majority vote statewide.
The change would give rural areas more power in statewide votes on constitutional amendments. A coalition of rural congressional districts would have effective veto control over amendments, no matter how popular a measure might be in Kansas City or St. Louis.
“This will make the people in my district count because right now they don’t,” said Rep. Jamie Gragg, an Ozark Republican.
House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, voted against the measure. He told reporters earlier this month he was against the legislation because it diluted the voting power of his suburban district.
“I was actually surprised that there wasn’t more of an urban/rural divide,” he said. “I just think it’s something that our membership has wanted for so long.”
Democrats and voting rights advocates have excoriated the legislation as an attack on democracy. House Democrats on Thursday said the proposal would effectively turn back the clock on voting rights in Missouri.
Several GOP-led states, including Ohio and South Dakota, have pushed to raise the threshold for citizen-led petitions in recent years. Voters in both states struck down those measures at the ballot box.
Thursday’s vote comes as a campaign to overturn the state’s strict abortion ban looms over the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Some Republicans have acknowledged that the measure could be a way to block the campaign from enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
The coalition of abortion rights groups has raised nearly $5 million, and supporters have just more than a week to gather enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot — likely in November.
“I view Missouri as a test bed for discrimination. I really do. I see it. And so we’re testing this philosophy for other states to follow. That’s what we’re becoming,” Rep. Joe Adams, a University City Democrat, said.
“We’re not becoming a Show Me state, we’re going to be a ‘hey, I’m going to show you how to discount those votes.’”
