Kaitlin Klasen, SLU/YouGov Poll research assistant, provides analysis on the requirements for changing constitutional amendments following the release of the February 2023 SLU/YouGov Poll.
The Missouri constitution allows citizens to initiate legislation as either state statutes or constitutional amendments. Initiated constitutional amendments have recently expanded Medicaid, raised the minimum wage, and legalized marijuana in the state. Currently, at least 171,592 signatures are required for proposed amendments in the initiative petition process to get on the ballot , and a simple majority of voter support for the amendments to pass. Some Republican lawmakers want to make amending the constitution via an initiative more difficult. They find the constitution’s increasing length with each new amendment problematic. Proponents of changing amendment requirements also argue that changing state laws should not be left to voters because many are unaware of the full contents of what they are voting on. Opponents, meanwhile, argue that citizens use the initiative petition process to participate in democracy.
This year the Missouri House passed legislation to increase the threshold to pass an initiated constitutional amendment from simple majority to 60% and requires the secretary of state to provide a period in each congressional districts to review and comment on the proposed constitutional amendments. This legislation does not include changes to signature requirements. Under this threshold, many successful past initiatives would not have passed. For instance, Amendment 3, which legalized marijuana sales, passed with 53% of voters in support in 2022. Other bills considered by the legislature proposed increasing signatures requirements, raising the threshold to a two-thirds majority, or adding additional requirements, such as receiving a majority in 82 of 163 Missouri House districts.
On the February 2023 SLU Poll, approximately half of Missouri voters indicated amending the constitution via an initiative should require increased support of at least 60% of voters. 22% indicated 60% of support should be required and 33% indicated requiring support of 66%. Only 15% of Missourians indicated the current threshold of 50% of voters should be required to amend the constitution. Making it harder to amend the constitution by initiative has been Republican legislators’ priority because it has been used to pass policies that Republicans had blocked in the legislature. Likewise, only 7% of Republicans indicated amending the constitution should require the support of 50% of voters on the SLU Poll compared to 22% of Democrats.