On the August ballot Missourians will be voting on several amendments alongside the party primaries. One of those amendments is Amendment 4, which would change how Missouri’s Citizen Initiative Petition process would work.
In Missouri, a signed petition needs a certain number of votes from each Congressional district to get the amendment on the ballot. At that point Missourians are given the opportunity to vote on it where the amendment will pass with a majority of Missouri voters.
If Amendment 4 were to pass, the process to get on the ballot would remain the same, but the requirement to pass a Citizen Initiative Amendment would now require a majority in each Congressional district.
Why should 1 district outweigh the vote of Missouri as a whole? Would it be fair for an amendment that benefits rural Missouri be allowed to be blocked by St Louis or Kansas City? In my opinion, every person’s vote should count the same whether they live in Bowling Green, St. Louis, Joplin, or Cape Girardeau.
The added insult is the current Missouri legislature obviously doesn’t believe this is the best method of determining if an amendment should pass. Amendment 4 only affects amendments added to the ballot by Initiative Petition, it doesn’t apply to amendments proposed by the Missouri legislature. If they believed a majority in each district was the right thing for Missourians, why wouldn’t it also apply to Legislature sponsored amendments?
Amendment 4 isn’t about what is best for Missouri, it is an attack on the voice of every Missourian.
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