Thre are two Amendments getting ready to show up on the ballot on August 4th here in Missouri. Amendment 4, which is being held up as the elimination of Majority Rule in Missouri, replacing it with All Amendments to the State Constitution be subject to Majority rule in each District. What is not being discussed are the other aspects of this Amendment which would stop foreign nationals and adversaries of the United States from providing funding to influence ballot measure elections and allow criminal prosecution of violators. To require Public hearings to be held and get public comments to approve initiative petitions to amend the constitution. And finally, make it pussible to punish petititon signature fraud as a crime.
How does this stack up? Take into consideration that only two congressional districts are currently Democrat. They are District 1 (St Louis) and District 5 (Kansas City Core). Both Districts are predominantly Black communities and have a long running history of being Democrat. The Democrat leadership in both Districts have been very supportive of activities most conservatives in this state would consider criminal, even to the point of qualifying as either Insurrection or Terrorism. The BLM Riots in which Antifa incited Riots, the Democrats in Kansas City and St Louis took actions to protect the so-called non-violent protestors from criminal charges and prosecution. So it would not take a rocket scientist to put together the thought that if there is a conservative measure that the Republicans (who are the majority in Missouri currently) would like to pass, the Democrats could ralley their supporters in either District 1 or District 5 and block any Missouri State Constitution Amendments. Then again, it could be used the other way around.
I think that this initiative could be put together a bit better. I can see the opposition to it from foreign influencers, and there have been several accountings for petition fraud out there. And I don’t have a problem with District approvals, I just believe that when it comes down to district approval, 100 percent is a bit unreasonable, it takes away the will of the people and put it’s in the hands of a biased small majority. As I stand right now. My vote is NO.
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- Stop foreign nationals and foreign adversaries of the United States from providing funding to influence ballot measure elections, and allow criminal prosecution of violators;
- Punish initiative petition signature fraud as a crime;
- Require public hearings be held to get public comment before initiative petitions are placed on the ballot;
- Require a majority of voters in each congressional district to approve initiative petitions to amend the constitution; and
- Make available to each voter the full text of initiative petitions with their ballot?”.
