The Missouri Association of Realtors is asking a Cole County judge to order a rewrite of the ballot summary for a GOP-backed proposal that would make it nearly impossible for constitutional amendments to pass through the initiative petition process.
The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, accuses Missouri lawmakers of trying to trick voters by writing an intentionally deceptive summary that includes three provisions that already are part of state law, such as a ban on foreign campaign contributions.
The first three bullet points of the summary make no mention of the proposal’s main purpose, which is to require constitutional amendments put on the ballot by voters to obtain both a simple majority statewide and a majority in all eight congressional districts to pass.
Currently, constitutional amendments only require a simple majority statewide.
“The General Assembly elected to include these provisions in bullet points one, two, and three to conceal the central purpose,” the lawsuit states, “which is to limit citizens’ ability to approve citizen-led initiative petitions to amend the constitution.”
The proposed ballot measure, which was approved by state lawmakers last month, “impacts a fundamental right,” the lawsuit says. “Voters must be notified that the measure will repeal this existing right.”
If approved by voters next year, the initiative petition changes would allow a small percentage of the state’s voters to defeat any ballot measure. During last year’s general election, 311,915 votes were cast in the 1st District out of the state’s 2,960,266 votes. So 156,000 voters — or about 5.3% of the statewide vote — could prevent a measure from passing.
Only citizen-led initiative petitions would be affected. Amendments placed on the ballot by state lawmakers are not included in the change.
The lawsuit argues the ballot summary fails to inform voters that “their votes would be counted differently, based upon the congressional district in which they live.”
Missouri is one of 24 states that allows citizen initiative petitions. They can be used to either amend the constitution or change state law, though the path to successfully doing so is often arduous and expensive, requiring tens of thousands of signatures to even land on the ballot.
Through recent ballot measures, Missourians have legalized abortion and recreational use of marijuana and voted to increase the minimum wage and mandate paid-sick leave. In November, the abortion-rights amendment passed with just shy of 52% of the vote with large support from the state’s urban, more-populated areas. Voters in all but eight of Missouri’s 115 counties opposed the amendment.
Republicans have argued for years that the process is dominated by out-of-state, liberal interest groups. The proposed constitutional amendment was approved by lawmakers alongside a separate bill that gerrymandered Missouri’s congressional map.
It will appear on the statewide ballot next year.
The Missouri Realtors have vowed to oppose the changes to the initiative petition process. And the group has proven it will spend big to convince voters.
In 2010, the Realtors raised $4.4 million to amend the Missouri Constitution to prohibit sales taxes on real estate transfers. That was followed in 2016 by a $5.6 million campaign to prevent lawmakers from extending the sales tax to services.
“The citizen initiative process is a power Missouri voters approved for themselves more than a century ago, which our association has been able to use to fight for Missouri homeowners and families,” Bobbi Howe, current president of Missouri Realtors, said in a press release. “We are committed to protecting the rights and the availability of this important tool for everyone.”
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
