If Missourians don’t stand up, we will lose direct democracy — this year | Opinion

The people of Missouri have enjoyed direct democracy for nearly 120 years. It’s little appreciated, though, how much benefit a century’s worth of citizen-initiated petitions has produced for our state.

It is even less understood, unfortunately, that this type of direct democracy is under attack and could end this year. In the coming weeks, thousands of voters must step forward and sign an initiative petition to fend off new attacks to trash direct democracy in Missouri.

In a moment, I’ll get to those attacks and how voters can protect direct democracy in the state. First, let’s detail what’s at stake. A list of actions or reforms resulting from the citizen initiative petition in Missouri reads like an all-star lineup of government accomplishments.

Keep in mind many of these reforms resulted after lawmakers in the Missouri General Assembly declined for years to take any action. When politics failed, the voters used direct democracy to solve a serious problem. Both conservative and progressive forces used the initiative petition to win change. You’d think both conservatives and progressives would be working to ensure its safety.

Initiative petitions deliver

Here’s a list of what initiative petitions have produced in Missouri:

• A constitutional right to women’s reproductive freedom, paid sick leave and increases in the state minimum wage were established in 2024.
• In 2022, voters approved recreational marijuana. It may take years more to assess its significance, but it certainly represented a dramatic example of citizen power via initiative petition.
• Medicaid was expanded in 2021 for at least 275,000 low-income Missouri residents, extending additional benefits and health care coverage.
• In 1992, voters adopted term limits, and in 1994, they approved campaign finance reform and riverboat gambling.
• In 1980, voters adopted the Hancock Amendment, which limits state and local taxes.
• In 1940, voters through an initiative established a nonpartisan system for the nomination, appointment and retention of judges. Known now as the Missouri Plan, it has been copied by several states for judicial selection.
• In the 1930s, Missouri voters enacted initiatives to allow public employee benefits and to create a Conservation Commission to manage fish, game and forest resources.
• In 1924, an initiative provided funding for the maintenance and construction of the state’s highways. In 1928, a follow-up initiative approved a $75 million bond issue for further construction.
• In 1920, the first Missouri initiative ordered the drafting of a new state constitution.

Now, let’s assess the threats to initiative petitions in 2026. A bipartisan group known as Respect Missouri Voters has been canvassing the state for months to get enough voter signatures to place on 2026 ballots, which will have what is likely will be the most important question ever addressed by initiative petitions: How can we keep and protect that 120-year-old process for voters?

However, Gov. Mike Kehoe and the General Assembly have already placed on the ballot a proposal that would for all practical purposes kill most citizen initiative petitions. Under this proposal, a citizen-proposed initiative would require a majority not just statewide, but in all eight congressional districts. The current requirement is a simple statewide majority.

By contrast, here’s Respect Missouri Voters’ summary language for a 2026 ballot:

• Expand the initiative and referendum petition process by making it a fundamental right.
• Allow courts to revise ballot summaries through lawsuits.
• Prohibit the legislature from weakening initiative or referendum powers.
• Prohibit the legislature from changing or repealing laws enacted through the initiative process, or passing laws similar to those rejected by referendum, without approval from at least 80% of both chambers.
• Preserve existing majority vote and signature requirements for initiative and referendum petitions.

Gather signatures to withstand challenges

Respect Missouri Voters has set a goal of gathering 300,000 signatures, a number that likely could withstand challenge by opponents. This winter, the group announced it had already collected more than 100,000 signatures. But in coming weeks, Respect Missouri Voters will be pushing hard to get to its goal.

I recently met with some of the volunteers who have collected thousands of these signatures. Each of them had gathered 1,000 or more, setting up signing stations in neighborhoods, standing for hours outside polls and attending various places, such as sporting venues in Columbia or other spots where numerous Missourians could be expected to gather. The field workers say that if voters take just a little time to understand the petition, they always sign. The signature gatherers hope for this apt result: Use the initiative petition to preserve and protect initiative petitions. It has, after all, worked for nearly 120 years.

Michael Mansur is former director of communications for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office.

Visit respectmovoters.org for more information on this effort and upcoming meetings and signature gatherings, including upcoming opportunities to find the Respect Missouri Voters petition: Saint Patrick’s Day parades on March 14 in Brookside at 2 p.m., in North Kansas City at 11 a.m., in Belton at 11 a.m., and on March 17 in Kansas City at 11 a.m. Respect Missouri Voters will also be at the No Kings rally at Mill Creek Park on the Country Club Plaza on March 28 from noon to 2 p.m.