As state senators consider reforms to Missouri’s citizen initiative process political groups are seeking to preserve that very process with ballot measures of their own.
Respect MO Voters, a campaign to put a measure on the ballot which protects the citizen initiative process, officially launches on Sept. 10th at events across the state. The effort would block legislators from altering voter-approved petitions unless they have an 80% supermajority. It would also impose further regulations on what language could appear on ballots as part of the petition process.
Nancy Zeliff, a retired professor organizing the campaign’s launch in St. Joseph, says the effort is a response to the state legislature’s long track record of reversing voter-approved ballot measures, from a puppy mill reform effort passed in 2010 to the November 2024 constitutional amendment protecting abortion access in the state.
Conservative legislators blocked that measure in May.
"[This campaign] really has been a groundswell after what happened in the spring legislative session in Missouri,” Zeliff says. “The launch date of Sept. 10th came about in July and it just so happens that this special session came about this same week!”
That special session deals directly with the initiative process. Conservative lawmakers are developing a bill which would require a constitutional amendment pass by a majority in all 8 of the state’s congressional districts. Currently, an amendment can pass with a simple majority.
Republican State Senator Rusty Black, who represents District 12, says the petition process needs reform because it frequently misleads voters, is prone to out-of-state political groups, and marginalizes rural areas.
“I do believe our [Missouri] constitution is abused,” he said. “We put things in the constitution that I don’t believe in and I believe the majority of the citizens in the 12th District feel the same way.”
If the senate passes its restrictions on the initiative process those will also need to appear before voters. Thus lawmakers and citizen campaigns are set for a ballot standoff over control of the state’s referendum process.
The Saint Joseph Launch of the Respect Missouri Voters Campaign takes place this evening at the East Hills Library from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. It is drop in event, but in the first hour, political activists Jess Piper and Will Westmoreland will address the room.
The state senate hopes to pass its petition reform, Bill HJR3, before the weekend.
