In Missouri, signatures were submitted for an initiative that would establish the citizen initiative and referendum process as fundamental rights and prohibit the state legislature from “weakening citizens’ initiative and referendum powers.” If enough signatures are found valid, the amendment will appear on the Nov. 2026 ballot.
On May 3, Respect MO Voters, the campaign behind the initiative, reported submitting more than 367,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office. To qualify for the ballot, the campaign must collect signatures equal to 5% of the gubernatorial vote in at least two-thirds of the state’s eight congressional districts. This translates to a minimum of 170,215 valid signatures, depending on how they are distributed across districts.
The initiative would amend the state constitution to declare that “The rights of initiative and referendum as set forth in this Constitution are fundamental rights” and require that any laws affecting those rights are “subject to strict scrutiny and must be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest.” The amendment would prohibit the state legislature from increasing signature thresholds, shortening signature-gathering periods, restricting subject matter, limiting judicial review of ballot language, creating additional requirements for petitioners, and requiring more than a simple majority vote for approval. Such changes could still be made through a constitutional amendment, which requires voter approval.
The amendment would also prohibit the legislature from changing a voter-approved initiative unless each chamber of the state legislature votes with an 80% majority to refer a proposed change to the ballot. Voters would then have to approve the change. No state requires both a supermajority vote in the legislature and voter approval to amend a citizen-initiated statute. Missouri is one of 21 states with a process for citizen-initiated state statutes and one of 11 that currently has no limits on the legislature’s ability to amend or repeal them.
Additionally, no state requires voter approval to change the rules governing the initiative process itself, such as signature thresholds or ballot language rules, which the Missouri amendment would require.
Missouri voters have rejected two of three constitutional amendments that would have added restrictions to the initiative process or increased signature requirements. In 1914, voters rejected an initiative to add subject restrictions to initiatives, and in 1924, voters rejected a proposal to increase signature requirements. In 1998, voters approved an amendment changing the initiative signature deadline from four months to six months before the election, thereby shortening the circulation period by two months.
There are currently five statewide measures certified for the Missouri ballot in 2026—four of them constitutional amendments referred to the ballot by the legislature, and one of them an automatic ballot referral renewing a sales tax. One of the constitutional amendments, Amendment 4, would conflict with the Respect MO Voters initiative. Amendment 4 would require majority voter approval in each of Missouri's eight congressional districts to pass citizen-initiated constitutional amendments, rather than the current simple majority statewide. The Respect MO Voters initiative would prohibit establishing a supermajority requirement for voter approval.
Amendment 4 could appear on the ballot in August or November. Gov. Kehoe has until May 22 to decide whether the amendment will appear on the Aug. 4, 2026, primary ballot or the Nov. 3, 2026, general election ballot. If enough signatures are verified for the Respect MO Voters initiative, it would appear on the November ballot.
The deadline to submit signatures for initiatives in Missouri was May 3, 2026. Respect MO Voters was the only campaign to submit signatures for an initiative for the 2026 ballot by the deadline, while a veto referendum related to Missouri's congressional map, which had signatures submitted in Dec. 2025, is also pending verification.
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