Ballot Issue

Kansas City voters will see Question 4 (water) and Question 5 (sewer) on their Aug. 4 ballot. Here's what to know about the ballot language, the history behind the bonds, what they will fund and where the money comes from.

Several states, including Missouri, have ballot measures this year that could raise the thresholds needed to pass state constitutional amendments. Many advocates are critical of such limits on direct democracy.

In the Aug. 4 primary election, Missouri voters can weigh in on Amendments 1, 2, 4 and 5. The proposals cover parks funding, election of tax assessors, how things get on a statewide ballot and the elimination of the state income tax.

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.