Missouri Amendment 6 could make it harder for lawmakers to overturn voter-led ballot issues

Jack, welcome back to the show.

Good to have you again.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Steve.

So talk us through the specifics of what this amendment would do.

It would make it harder for lawmakers to overturn citizen-passed initiatives.

How, Jack?

Yeah, so for 118 years, Missourians have had the constitutional right to go collect signatures, put issues on the ballot, and to be able to vote on those issues.

And so this, the Amendment 6, really does three things.

It protects that constitutional right.

It prevents lawmakers from making it more difficult to pass ballot initiatives.

It also requires that the ballot language itself, the ballot summaries, be clear, unbiased, so the Missourians actually know what they're voting on.

And then third and foremost, it helps prevent politicians from simply overturning the statewide vote of the people.

And so it's really needed, especially at this time.

I mean, you really don't have to look any further than Amendment 4 that was on the ballot here in Missouri in August would have made it virtually impossible for citizens, Missouri citizens, to put issues on the ballot and to pass them.

That was defeated with more than 80 percent of Missourians voted against it.

It actually failed in every single Missouri county, Steve.

And so Amendment 6 really is just the opposite of that.

It protects that right to petition.

Jack, Amendment 6 also has a provision that lawmakers could, in an extraordinary circumstance, still overturn a citizen-passed initiative.

Tell us about that part of it.

Yeah, right now, Missourians go collect all these signatures.

It usually takes more than 300 signatures to get on the ballot, 300,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

They go and pass it statewide.

Lawmakers can just simply return to Jeff City in January of the next year by a simple majority overturn a vote of the people.

That's not right.

Jack, welcome back to the show.

Good to have you again.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Steve.

So talk us through the specifics of what this amendment would do.

It would make it harder for lawmakers to overturn citizen-passed initiatives.

How, Jack?

Yeah, so for 118 years, Missourians have had the constitutional right to go collect signatures, put issues on the ballot, and to be able to vote on those issues.

And so this, the Amendment 6, really does three things.

It protects that constitutional right.

It prevents lawmakers from making it more difficult to pass ballot initiatives.

It also requires that the ballot language itself, the ballot summaries, be clear, unbiased, so the Missourians actually know what they're voting on.

And then third and foremost, it helps prevent politicians from simply overturning the statewide vote of the people.

And so it's really needed, especially at this time.

I mean, you really don't have to look any further than Amendment 4 that was on the ballot here in Missouri in August would have made it virtually impossible for citizens, Missouri citizens, to put issues on the ballot and to pass them.

That was defeated with more than 80 percent of Missourians voted against it.

It actually failed in every single Missouri county, Steve.

And so Amendment 6 really is just the opposite of that.

It protects that right to petition.

Jack, Amendment 6 also has a provision that lawmakers could, in an extraordinary circumstance, still overturn a citizen-passed initiative.

Tell us about that part of it.

Yeah, right now, Missourians go collect all these signatures.

It usually takes more than 300 signatures to get on the ballot, 300,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

They go and pass it statewide.

Lawmakers can just simply return to Jeff City in January of the next year by a simple majority overturn a vote of the people.

That's not right.