Missouri voters approve Amendment 7, banning ranked-choice voting after Republican push
Missouri voters on Tuesday approved a measure that officially bans ranked-choice voting, a novel way of conducting elections that is not largely used in the state.
The measure, called Amendment 7, prohibits the voting method, which allows voters to rank their preferred candidates in order of preference. It included a carve-out for St. Louis, which implemented a similar form of “approval voting” in municipal elections in 2020.
The Associated Press called the election in favor of Amendment 7 at 10:17 p.m. “Yes” votes were leading “no” votes 67.7% to 32.3%, with about 76% of precincts reporting.
Show Me Integrity, a political action group which has opposed Amendment 7, called the amendment a ‘trick measure’ in a statement Tuesday night.
“Politicians are afraid of competitive elections, so they lied to trick Missourians into banning a better system,” said Show Me Integrity CEO Benjamin Singer. “We will build our citizen movement more powerful than ever to reverse Amendment 7 and bring more accountable elections for ALL Missourians.”
While Missouri does not use the voting method, Republicans nationwide have taken aim at the practice as several cities and states, such as Alaska and Maine, have implemented forms of ranked-choice voting. Missouri Republican lawmakers placed the measure on the ballot, arguing that it would confuse voters.
But supporters of ranked-choice voting railed against the amendment, saying the method of voting would have given Missourians a chance to elect candidates more closely aligned with their values, discouraging the polarization and dysfunction that have roiled the Missouri Capitol in recent years.
Much of the criticism of Amendment 7 centered on language attached to the measure by Republican lawmakers that asked voters to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in the state, a practice that is already illegal.
Critics derided the provision as “ballot candy,” or a way to court voters as Republicans seize on fears about illegal immigration. Over the summer, a Cole County judge rejected a lawsuit brought by two Missouri voters that argued the language was misleading.
“If you voted yes for this, without understanding the complete issue, then that’s a question of gullibility,” said Larry Bradley, a member of ranked-choice supporting group Better Ballot KC. “But there’s also another aspect at work if you voted yes for it, and that is that you want to restrict the choices of Missouri voters.”
However, in his order, the judge acknowledged that Missouri “currently has statutes that prohibit non-citizens from voting in public elections.”
Still, some Republicans argued that the language in the Missouri Constitution, which states that “all citizens of the United States” can vote, was not strong enough. The amendment changes that wording to state “only U.S. citizens.”
Under the amendment, Missouri elections will be required to use plurality voting — the most common way of voting in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins.
In most forms of ranked-choice voting, candidates are instead ranked in order of preference.
While Amendment 7 bans local governments from enacting ranked-choice voting, supporters could still file a constitutional amendment to implement the voting method in future elections. For this reason, Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, called the amendment “one of the silliest things the legislature has ever done.”
“If we choose in two years to have ranked-choice voting back on the ballot, it just 100% overwrites what we’re putting into (the constitution) this year if it passes,” Lavender said prior to Tuesday’s vote.
Ilana Arougheti contributed reporting.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 10:52 PM.
