by Thom Gross, retired journalist, St. Louis, MO
Amendment 4 would permanently weaken Missouri’s citizen initiative petition process and allow one congressional district to overrule the entire state.
Last year, as hundreds of Respect MO Voters volunteers collected signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment, Missouri’s GOP-controlled General Assembly moved quickly to undercut that effort—and permanently weaken the citizen initiative petition process.
The Respect MO Voters amendment would make it harder for legislators to overturn or weaken voter-approved citizen initiatives. In recent years, Republican legislators have repeatedly tried to reverse or undermine policies approved by a majority of Missouri voters.
The Legislature placed Amendment 4 on the Aug. 4 ballot, three months before the proposed Respect MO Voters amendment could appear on the November ballot.
If Amendment 4 passes, it would take effect 30 days after the August election. If the Respect MO Voters amendment qualifies for the November ballot, it would then face Amendment 4’s new, nearly impossible standard.
Amendment 4 is an attempt to gut Missouri’s longstanding citizen-led initiative petition process.
One district could overrule the entire state
Amendment 4 would require every citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to receive a majority of votes in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts.
A statewide majority would no longer be enough.
In effect, voters in a single congressional district would have veto power over the rest of Missouri. A measure supported by an overwhelming statewide majority could still fail if it falls short in just one district.
According to Ballotpedia’s analysis, every citizen-initiated constitutional amendment approved by Missouri voters since 2020 would have failed under Amendment 4’s eight-district requirement.
Meanwhile, constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by legislators—including Amendment 4 itself—would continue to require only a simple majority of votes statewide.
That creates two different standards: a higher, more difficult one for citizen-proposed amendments and a lower one for legislator-proposed amendments. It gives legislators and the powerful interests that influence them an unmistakable advantage.
Missouri’s petition process is already demanding
Missourians have used initiative petitions since 1908 to ensure that voters—not only politicians and wealthy special interests—can act on vital issues.
Citizen initiatives generally address policies that legislators oppose, avoid or have been unable to resolve.
The process is already intentionally laborious. To qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot, petitioners must receive approval of the proposed language, organize a statewide campaign and collect a large number of valid signatures from registered voters across multiple congressional districts within a limited period.
To place the Respect MO Voters amendment before voters, organizers needed more than 170,000 valid signatures. Volunteers collected and submitted more than twice that number.
The maximum signature-gathering period is 18 months, and petitioners receive that much time only when they file their proposal and receive approval at the earliest possible date. This is not an easy process, nor should it be.
But it must remain possible.
Recent measures approved through Missouri’s initiative petition process include Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization, increases in the minimum wage, paid sick leave and the restoration of reproductive health rights.
These are policies voters supported even when legislators would not act. A crucial element of Missouri democracy would be lost under Amendment 4.
Amendment 4 changes the rules only for citizens
Supporters of Amendment 4 argue that amending the Missouri Constitution should be difficult and require broad support. But Amendment 4 would increase the difficulty only for citizen petitioners.
The General Assembly would retain its ability to place constitutional amendments on the ballot and pass them with a simple statewide majority. Setting two different standards for determining majority support is fundamentally unfair.
Opponents of a citizen-initiated amendment could concentrate their money and organizing in only one congressional district. Petitioners, meanwhile, would have to win separate majorities in all eight.
That disadvantage would be permanent and nearly insurmountable.
If Amendment 4 passes in August, the proposed Respect MO Voters amendment would face that new standard in November, should it qualify for the ballot. The Legislature is attempting to change the rules before voters have an opportunity to protect their own petition rights.
Protecting the petition process is not a partisan issue
Preserving Missouri’s current initiative petition process is not simply a Democratic or Republican concern. Some Republican legislators joined Democrats in unsuccessfully opposing the decision to place Amendment 4 on the ballot.
The movement to defeat it includes organizations with very different political perspectives, such as the League of Women Voters of Missouri, Missouri Jobs with Justice, the Missouri Association of Realtors, the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition and the conservative organization Act4Missouri.
Act4Missouri has also condemned Amendment 4’s unequal standards for citizen-led and legislatively referred amendments.
That opposition reflects an important political reality: The initiative petition process belongs to voters of every party and no party.
The party controlling the Legislature today may not control it tomorrow. Conservatives who support weakening citizen petitions now could someday find themselves facing a Democratic majority and newly drawn congressional districts.
Political power changes hands. Citizens should not surrender a constitutional right based on which party currently controls the statehouse.
Political power belongs to the people
The Missouri Constitution declares from its opening that political power belongs to the people.
Article I, Section 1 states:
In order to assert our rights, acknowledge our duties, and proclaim the principles on which our government is founded, we declare: That all political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.
The initiative petition process is one of the clearest ways Missourians exercise that power. Citizens decide whether to sign a petition. Election officials determine whether the required number of valid signatures has been collected. Then voters decide whether the measure becomes law.
Legislators know what their party leaders, donors, and political allies want. They may or may not follow the wishes of their constituents.
The citizen initiative process gives Missourians a path forward when legislators refuse to listen.
Today’s Republican supermajority is attempting to permanently weaken the ability of Missouri voters—regardless of their political party—to enact constitutional amendments proposed by the people.
That is why even some conservative organizations and Republican lawmakers are crying foul. Missourians of every political affiliation should look closely at Amendment 4 and understand exactly what it asks them to surrender.
Citizens should never vote to give away their own power. Passage of Amendment 4 would permanently undermine direct democracy and allow a single congressional district to override the will of a statewide majority.
Vote NO on Amendment 4 on Aug. 4.