Voters Reject GOP “Power Grab” Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri
GOP-sponsored measures in both states went “down in flames,” observers of the elections noted.
By Chris Walker ,
Op-Ed |
Missouri Ballot Measure Attempts to Undermine Voters’ Influence Over Policy
If passed, Amendment 4 could make it substantially more difficult for citizen-led constitutional amendments to succeed.
By Constance Harper & McClain Bryant Macklin , Truthout August 1, 2026
As of Wednesday morning, more than 80 percent of voters opposed the proposal by GOP lawmakers. A majority in every county in the state voted against the measure, meaning that, even by the standards that the proposal was trying to enact, it would have been rejected.
The outcome is significant because voters in Missouri have used the ballot initiative process to bypass obstructionist Republicans in the state government on issues relating to abortion, Medicaid expansion, the minimum wage, and required paid sick leave for workers.
“These decisions were made directly by Missourians,” wrote Constance Harper, vice president of Strategic Impact and Innovation at the Deaconess Foundation, and McClain Bryant Macklin, chief policy and impact officer at the Health Forward Foundation, in an op-ed for Truthout earlier this month. “They determined whether more families could access health care, whether workers could earn higher wages, whether someone could stay home sick without losing a paycheck, and whether Missourians could exercise greater control over deeply personal decisions. These are the kinds of questions that shape the health, stability, and vitality of communities.”
Several political observers celebrated the rejection of the measures.
“Voters in Kansas saw through a blatant political power grab and sent a message — our courts are not for sale,” the Bluesky account for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote.
“Republican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames,” Stephen Wolf, contributor for The Down Ballot, opined in a social media post.
“This is a TOTAL repudiation by Missouri voters of a core agenda of state GOP leadership,” wrote Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri.
GOP-sponsored measures in both states went “down in flames,” observers of the elections noted.
By Chris Walker ,
August 5, 2026
Voters fill out their ballots while voting Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 7, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.Rich Sugg/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
On Tuesday, voters in Kansas and Missouri overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures proposed by Republican lawmakers that aimed to restrict their democratic and human rights.
In Kansas, proposed Amendment 1 would have required direct elections for state Supreme Court justices. The measure was introduced by Republicans in the state legislature to counter the process for appointing jurists to the state’s highest court, which has protected reproductive rights over the past decade despite efforts by the GOP to pass laws restricting abortion.
As of 9 am Central Time on Wednesday, that measure was losing, with 61.3 percent of voters rejecting the idea. Several counties in the state, including in rural areas that have traditionally sided with Republicans, voted against it as well.
The rejection of the measure comes just four years after Republicans sought to reverse the state Supreme Court’s abortion protections in a different ballot measure in 2022.
Missouri voters also rejected a measure aimed at curtailing voters’ right to self-determination at the ballot box. Proposed Amendment 4 would have changed the ballot initiative process altogether. Instead of simply requiring a majority vote in the state to pass changes to state law, it would require a majority vote in every congressional district in the state. Such a measure would allow lawmakers to gerrymander the state’s political lines in order to prevent voters from passing ballot initiatives.
On Tuesday, voters in Kansas and Missouri overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures proposed by Republican lawmakers that aimed to restrict their democratic and human rights.
In Kansas, proposed Amendment 1 would have required direct elections for state Supreme Court justices. The measure was introduced by Republicans in the state legislature to counter the process for appointing jurists to the state’s highest court, which has protected reproductive rights over the past decade despite efforts by the GOP to pass laws restricting abortion.
As of 9 am Central Time on Wednesday, that measure was losing, with 61.3 percent of voters rejecting the idea. Several counties in the state, including in rural areas that have traditionally sided with Republicans, voted against it as well.
The rejection of the measure comes just four years after Republicans sought to reverse the state Supreme Court’s abortion protections in a different ballot measure in 2022.
Missouri voters also rejected a measure aimed at curtailing voters’ right to self-determination at the ballot box. Proposed Amendment 4 would have changed the ballot initiative process altogether. Instead of simply requiring a majority vote in the state to pass changes to state law, it would require a majority vote in every congressional district in the state. Such a measure would allow lawmakers to gerrymander the state’s political lines in order to prevent voters from passing ballot initiatives.
Op-Ed |
Missouri Ballot Measure Attempts to Undermine Voters’ Influence Over Policy
If passed, Amendment 4 could make it substantially more difficult for citizen-led constitutional amendments to succeed.
By Constance Harper & McClain Bryant Macklin , Truthout August 1, 2026
As of Wednesday morning, more than 80 percent of voters opposed the proposal by GOP lawmakers. A majority in every county in the state voted against the measure, meaning that, even by the standards that the proposal was trying to enact, it would have been rejected.
The outcome is significant because voters in Missouri have used the ballot initiative process to bypass obstructionist Republicans in the state government on issues relating to abortion, Medicaid expansion, the minimum wage, and required paid sick leave for workers.
“These decisions were made directly by Missourians,” wrote Constance Harper, vice president of Strategic Impact and Innovation at the Deaconess Foundation, and McClain Bryant Macklin, chief policy and impact officer at the Health Forward Foundation, in an op-ed for Truthout earlier this month. “They determined whether more families could access health care, whether workers could earn higher wages, whether someone could stay home sick without losing a paycheck, and whether Missourians could exercise greater control over deeply personal decisions. These are the kinds of questions that shape the health, stability, and vitality of communities.”
Several political observers celebrated the rejection of the measures.
“Voters in Kansas saw through a blatant political power grab and sent a message — our courts are not for sale,” the Bluesky account for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote.
“Republican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames,” Stephen Wolf, contributor for The Down Ballot, opined in a social media post.
“This is a TOTAL repudiation by Missouri voters of a core agenda of state GOP leadership,” wrote Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri.
Voters also rejected an amendment that would have gradually eliminated the state’s income tax in what one Democratic mayor said would benefit the wealthy “while raising costs on hardworking families.”
Pamela Dear leaves a voting booth on July 23, 2026 in St. Charles County, Missouri.
(Photo by Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Aug 05, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
The Democratic mayor of Kansas City, Missouri was among those celebrating what he called the “TOTAL repudiation by Missouri voter of a core agenda of state GOP leadership” on Tuesday night after the state voted by a 60-point margin against Amendment 4, a measure backed by the Republican governor which would have weakened voters’ ability to pass citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives.
“We took over control of the state of Missouri tonight, repudiating absolutely atrocious ideas,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a video message addressing voters as election results came in. “Against millions of dollars, lots of special interests, Missouri voters are trouncing Amendment 4, which was going to take away our initiative petition rights, eliminate our ability to make sure we can get things done.”
The Republican supermajority in the state Legislature and Gov. Mike Kehoe supported Amendment 4, which was spurred by the passage of a ballot initiative in 2024 that had added the right to abortion care to the Missouri Constitution.
The addition of the amendment to the constitution would have required a majority vote in each of the state’s eight congressional districts in order to pass any future citizen-sponsored amendments, instead of a simply majority of voters across the state.
With more than 95% of votes counted on Wednesday morning, 80.3% of voters had rejected Amendment 4, while 19.7% had supported it.
The amendment would have created the highest threshold in the country for passing ballot initiatives like others that Missourians have passed in recent years, including ones that have legalized marijuana, raised the minimum wage, and expanding Medicaid coverage.
Opponents warned that under Amendment 4, an initiative could fail to pass even with as many as 95% of voters across the state supporting it.
The St. Louis American reported that the election result could signal voters’ coming rejection of Amendment 3 in November, which would ban abortion in Missouri in most cases.
The state GOP suffered a similar defeat for Amendment 5, which would have gradually eliminated the state’s income tax and replaced it with expanded sales and use taxes. Opponents warned the new tax scheme would have cost working families and lower-income Missourians more, with the average resident paying $500 more in taxes annually, according to the nonpartisan Missouri Budget Project—as high-income residents would have been required to contribute less to public spending.
“Tonight’s rejection of Amendment 5 is not only an immense failure for statewide leadership, but also a sign to out-of-state billionaire special interests that Missourians and most Americans have no interest in voodoo tax schemes that would spare civic responsibility for a few elites while raising costs on hardworking families in our state and our country,” Lucas said Tuesday night.
Mark Jones of the Missouri National Education Association—part of a broad coalition that opposed the amendment—told the Missouri Independent that “fundamentally, Missourians rejected the idea that they should pay for tax breaks for billionaires and then not be able to change to correct the legislature, not only on this issue but forever.”
The Independent reported that Missouri Promise political action committee (PAC), which did not report any contributions from individual donors, raised $17.2 million in favor of Amendment 5. Opponents of Amendment 5 were outspent 4-to-1 on broadcast ads.
Another PAC, Protect Election Integrity, raised $132,100 and spent $28,653 through July 23 in support of Amendment 4. Freedom Principle Missouri/Missouri First PAC, also reported spending $45,551 in support of the measure.
State House Minority Leader Ashley Aune (D-14) said Missouri voters had “made clear they won’t let Republicans rewrite the rules to protect their own power and line the pockets of the ultrawealthy.”
Referring to the abortion rights amendment that will be up for a vote in the general election, Aune added, “In November, voters have the chance to send another powerful message to Jefferson City Republicans: If you mess with Missourians’ rights, you will pay the political price.”
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