The Star’s endorsement on Missouri Amendment 7 on who can vote and how | Opinion

Here is our endorsement on Missouri Amendment 7 for the general election. For more information about the Nov. 5 election, check out our Voter Guide, a collaboration between The Kansas City Star and the KC Media Collective.

Missouri Amendment 7 deals with how elections are run in the state. The question asks voters to “make the Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote.”

We recommend a no vote. This is classic “ballot candy”: adding something to the ballot that sounds good to voters but has no practical effect.

There is no evidence that noncitizens are voting in Missouri. State law already prohibits noncitizens from casting ballots, as the measure itself explains. The state constitution already extends the franchise to “all citizens of the United States” over the age of 18 (with a few exceptions.)

Amendment 7 changes the word “all” to “only.”

Adding candy to the ballot wastes voters’ time and energy. For that reason alone, the decision should be “no.”

Amendment 7 goes further, however, by banning so-called ranked choice voting in the state. In a ranked choice election, also known as instant-runoff, voters choose multiple candidates in order of their preference, and results are tallied by adding secondary choices to the final result if there is no outright winner.

Ranked choice voting is used in two states, and in several counties and municipalities in other parts of the country. The goal is to make candidates appeal more broadly to voters, and to reduce the influence of political affiliation on election results.

We’ve been lukewarm about ranked choice voting in the past. But we see no reason why a prohibition of the practice should be embedded in the state constitution. If a city or county wants to use ranked-choice voting, and the public supports the idea, the process should be available.

The measure also says the “plurality” winner of a party primary is the nominee. Why is this language necessary? Parties should be allowed to use whatever mechanism they want to choose nominees. In 2020, Kansas Democrats used ranked choice voting to pick a presidential preference.

The republic did not rise or fall after that vote. Instead, residents got a look at how the process works. It should be their right to do so.

We recommend a no vote on Amendment 7.

This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 5:08 AM.