The room in the Library Center where Respect MO Voters held their town hall on Friday was full enough that people started lining their chairs up against the back wall. The crowd leaned older, but there were young people as well.
Respect MO Voters is an organization dedicated to passing a ballot measure to protect ballot measures — a process that only 26 states currently have. More specifically, the goal is a law that would limit the ability of the state legislature to resist the implementation of successful ballot initiatives, modify the ballot initiative process or use "ballot candy" — unrelated provisions in ballot language intended to sway voters.
For example, someone at the town hall mentioned Amendment 7, the constitutional amendment to ban ranked-choice voting, which also included a provision at the top to amend the constitution so that only citizens could vote, despite the fact that noncitizen voting was already illegal. Attendees also mentioned lawmakers’ attempts to reverse Amendment 3 via another referendum, as well as recently proposed bills to raise the margins by which ballot initiatives must pass.
The group, formed in November of last year, presents as explicitly "cross-partisan."
"After the Hancock Amendment in 1980 to limit taxes, the Democrat-led assembly tried to restrict the citizen's initiative," said Theresa Nicolosi, one of the organizers of the event. "At that time, governor John Ashcroft vetoed the bill, defending the ballot initiative as a crucial voter freedom."
On an easel next to the projector screen was a poster displaying Ashcroft's statement after the veto, in which he called for the General Assembly to remain reluctant to impede the process.
Midway through the meeting, attendees were asked to scan a QR code and fill out a survey. After some demographic information, the survey moved on to granular details of policy — "What changes do you like to protect citizen initiatives?" was one question. "What should be the process to write ballot language?" was another.
"I'm to the part of the survey that says' what should be required to change a law that was passed [by citizen initiative]?' and then it talks about all these different percentages," said one older attendee. "I don't have enough information to answer that question."
"Me neither," agrees another.
The organizers tell her to answer "unknown" or "not sure." When someone else points out that this isn't an option on the survey, they said to just leave the question blank. Everyone seems satisfied with that answer, and the meeting moves on.
The group has a long process ahead of them. The plan is to hold a series of town halls and policy summits in the coming months and take input from lawyers pro bono, culminating in June with finalized ballot language. After that, they’ll have to collect enough signatures to actually get on the ballot (the group plans to hire no paid canvassers), then campaign to pass the resolution in November 2026.
Respect MO Voters is planning another Springfield town hall at the Library Station this Thursday, March 6.