Ballot Issue

Ads over amendments 4 and 5 are beginning to flood the state, but some major donors behind the campaigns may never be known.

Gov. Mike Kehoe says "out-of-state special interests" are influencing citizen-led efforts to amend the state constitution. His own ballot measure, a push to eliminate the state income tax, has received $1.9 million from a mysterious Delaware nonprofit.

Following the Thursday ruling by a Jackson County judge, Planned Parenthood in Kansas City began providing medication abortions to patients on Monday for the first time since 2018. But affiliates are still fighting limitations as critics again seek to restrict access via a ballot issue in November.

Judges increasingly have found that official summaries from Missouri election officials fail to tell voters what ballot measures would actually do — forcing rewrites on amendments about abortion, redistricting and more. Republicans say courts are overstepping.

The case brought by the NAACP attempted to quash Missouri bills that gerrymandered the congressional map and changed the initiative petition process. But the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the governor could call a special session whenever the legislature isn't already meeting.

Voters will see two controversial questions on Missouri’s statewide ballot in August, when turnout is expected to be lower. Amendment 4 would make it much harder for citizens to change the constitution, while Amendment 5 seeks to expand sales taxes.

An amendment banning abortion will go before Missouri voters in November, possibly alongside a referendum on the state's gerrymandered congressional map. But a proposal to expand sales taxes and eliminate the income tax will appear in the smaller-turnout August election.

People Not Politicians wants a judge to compel Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to either accept or reject the anti-redistricting ballot issue — and stop telling elections officials to implement a plan aimed at ousting Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

In some respects, whether the Republican-controlled legislature succeeded in all of its goals isn’t known yet, because priorities like restricting abortion and ending the income tax must be decided by voters.

A Cole County judge is being asked to block the measure from the ballot or rewrite its summary for voters.

Backers of the Respect Missouri Voters initiative turned in roughly 350,000 signatures on Sunday to the Missouri secretary of state’s office. Lawmakers would be barred from changing or repealing voter-approved statutes or constitutional amendments, unless 80% of the legislature agrees to put the changes to another statewide vote.

Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said he's ready to sell his plan to expand sales and use taxes, which would allow Missouri to end the income tax. Another ballot measure would repeal constitutional protections for abortion rights.