Our weekly program, Making Democracy Work, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri. It's hosted and produced by volunteers from the LWV, and it airs each Monday morning at 9:45 on KSMU.
In this episode of Making Democracy Work, Lisa Langley talks with Joan Gentry, chair of the League of Women Voters' voter services about petitions being circulated in Missouri.
The People Not Politicians campaign is trying to put the state's new Congressional map before voters through a veto referendum. Governor Mike Kehoe called a special session that began on August 29 and ended with the successful passage of a new Congressional map and an amended initiative petition process to be put before voters.
"The map splits fewer counties and municipalities than the current map, preserves two congressional districts as currently drawn and retains every current member of Missouri's congressional delegation in their current districts," according to the governor's office. But People Not Politicians called it "gerrymandering" and "an unconstitutional power grab."
The Respect Missouri Voters campaign is working to put an amendment on the ballot that would maintain the state's current initiative petition process. The amendment, according to the organization's website, would "protect our century-old constitutional freedom of the initiative, require ballot language to be clear and unbiased, and prevent partisan attacks on measures that the people have voted into law."
To hear the Making Democracy Work interview, click on the "listen" button above.