Missouri does not use ranked-choice voting. Why are Republicans pushing Amendment 7?
When Missourians head to the ballot box next week, they’ll be asked to approve a measure that bans ranked-choice voting, a voting method that is largely not used in the state.
The measure, called Amendment 7, seeks to officially ban ranked-choice voting, a practice that allows voters to rank their preferred candidates in order of preference. It includes a carve-out for St. Louis, which implemented a form of “approval voting” in municipal elections in 2020.
While Missouri does not use the voting method, Republicans nationwide have targeted the practice as several cities and states, such as Alaska and Maine, have implemented forms of ranked-choice voting. Missouri Republicans argue that the method would confuse voters.
But supporters of ranked-choice voting say it would give 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.
“The election system we’re using right now destroys trust,” said Larry Bradley, a member of a group called Better Ballot KC that’s pushing for ranked-choice voting in Kansas City. “Ranked-choice voting will do away with that, because they will be representing the majority view of the voters.”
In Missouri, elections are held using plurality voting — the most common way of voting in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins. Critics, however, argue that when there are numerous candidates splitting the vote, the overall winner is often not very popular.
Under most forms of ranked-choice voting, candidates are instead ranked in order of preference. A candidate can win if they receive the majority of first-preference votes. If that fails, candidates with the lowest number of first-preference votes are eliminated until one candidate receives a majority based on voters’ ranked preferences.
Supporters of ranked-choice voting argue that it encourages moderation, particularly on the heels of a legislative session that was largely defined by infighting among Republicans. Missouri lawmakers left Jefferson City this year after passing 28 non-budget bills, a modern record low.
Under ranked-choice voting, candidates would likely have to appeal to both parties in order to receive a majority of votes.
In the waning hours of the legislative session, Missouri Republican lawmakers voted to place Amendment 7 on the ballot, largely arguing that ranked-choice voting was too complicated and would confuse voters. They also attached language that will ask Missourians whether to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in the state, a practice that is already illegal.
Rep. Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican, said in an interview that ranked-choice voting “doesn’t seem to work.”
“It’s not the way we do things here in Missouri,” he said. “Let’s pick our candidates in the primary and may the best man or woman win.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he’s opposed to the ballot question. Local governments, he said, should be able to decide whether to move to different voting methods and the state shouldn’t be the one to outright ban that decision.
“It does limit extremism in politics. I think it does allow for more moderate viewpoints to break through,” he said of ranked-choice voting. “I don’t think that is the sort of thing that on a state level we need to make a decision on right now, particularly one that bans it for local governments.”
Lucas acknowledged, however, that there is some concern within the Black community that ranked-choice voting might make it harder for “a minority candidate without crossover appeal to be able to garner the same number of votes.” He pointed to the fact that Kansas City’s prominent Black political organization, Freedom Inc., has encouraged voters to vote yes on Amendment 7.
“I get it. I think we can have very good debates on it in all of our jurisdictions,” Lucas said. “What I absolutely don’t get is any reason why the state should ban our ability to have that discussion in Kansas City or Cape Girardeau or in the City of St. Louis.”
Rodney Bland, the president of Freedom Inc., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Non-citizen voting?
Much of the criticism of the measure has centered on the non-citizen voting provision.
While the central goal of Amendment 7 is to ban ranked-choice voting, the first bullet point that voters will see has nothing to do with it. It asks Missourians to allow only U.S. citizens to vote in the state.
The provision has been derided as “ballot candy,” or a way to entice voters as Republicans seize on fears about illegal immigration. A Cole County judge in August rejected a lawsuit brought by two Missouri voters that argued the language was misleading.
However, in his order, the judge acknowledged that Missouri “currently has statutes that prohibit non-citizens from voting in public elections.”
Some Republicans argue that the language in the Missouri Constitution, which states that “all citizens of the United States” can vote, is not strong enough. They’re pushing for it to state “only U.S. citizens.”
“We just did it for clarification,” said Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican. “And to make sure that going forward, that is absolutely banned.”
However, the Missouri Secretary of State Office’s website makes clear that individuals must be a “citizen of the United States” in order to vote. Missouri law also requires voters to state whether they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote.
For Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, Amendment 7 is “one of the silliest things the legislature has ever done.” She pointed to the fact that if Missourians want to eventually institute ranked-choice voting, they could still pass a ballot measure even if Amendment 7 is approved.
“I just try to tell people it’s a pretty silly amendment,” Lavender said. “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.”
