Missouri GOP wants voters to restrict own power to change state constitution

Republican lawmakers in Missouri are asking voters to approve a measure during Tuesday’s primary election that would limit Missourians’ own ability to propose and vote on amendments to the state constitution.

The measure comes at a moment when GOP state lawmakers are actively fighting to prevent voters from using their constitutional right to veto a partisan gerrymander passed by the legislature — although the new measure, called Amendment 4, does not take aim at that specific provision of the constitution.

Unlike in many other states, Missouri voters have the power to make changes to their state constitution by gathering signatures to put a ballot measure to a statewide vote. If enacted, Amendment 4 would make it significantly more difficult for citizen-led measures to pass.

Currently, a citizen-led ballot initiative to change the state constitution can pass by winning a simple majority in six out of the state’s eight congressional districts. If voters approve Amendment 4 on this week’s primary ballot, such initiatives would need to win a majority in all eight in order to pass.

In other words, Amendment 4 would allow future citizen-led initiatives that are popular with a majority of Missouri voters to be blocked by the minority. 

Voters used such initiatives to expand Medicaid in 2020 and to protect abortion access in 2024. But those measures would not have succeeded if held to Amendment 4’s higher threshold. 

Amendment 4 would not affect constitutional amendments that the legislature puts on the ballot — state lawmakers only want to make it harder to pass a voter-led measure, not their own proposals. Nor would it apply to citizen-led petitions for statutory changes, like the minimum wage increase voters passed in 2024.

The amendment also would not impact citizen-led referendums, like the redistricting referendum voters are fighting to put on the ballot so they can weigh in on the new GOP congressional gerrymander. Missouri Republicans have erected seemingly endless hurdles in their attempt to block the referendum from ever reaching the ballot.

Although Amendment 4 would not directly affect the ongoing redistricting fight, Jess Piper, a Missouri voter and writer, told Democracy Docket that these battles feel connected.

“A gerrymander is meant to make the electorate what they want it to be — what the representatives want it to be, not what the citizens want it to be,” Piper said. “And then by taking away our actual voice, by keeping things from being on the ballot, they’re able to basically take away our representation.”