Missouri voters mobilize to protect their petition rights as a statewide coalition brings its fight to Joplin.

"Respect MO Voters" held a town hall on Wednesday about protecting Missouri's citizen initiative petition process.

The group says they want to prevent politicians from overturning voter-approved measures and using ballot language that may confuse voters.

Joplin residents with Respect MO Voters are planning a town hall Wednesday, Jan. 28 on Missouri’s citizen ballot initiative process.

Some residents feel that Missouri politicians have disrespected voters, since several times in the last several years, the legislature has overturned election results and deceived voters with confusing ballot language.

A town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday in Cameron organized by Cameron residents behind the Respect MO Voters movement to preserve the initiative petition process and add restrictions on the legislature’s ability to revise or undo what voters have approved.

Cameron residents affiliated with Respect MO Voters will host a public town hall on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to explain how Missouri’s citizen ballot initiative system operates and to outline ways voters can respond to legislative efforts that critics say undermine that process.

Respect Missouri Voters and Missouri Right to Education are volunteer-led cross-partisan campaigns to pass ballot initiatives for state constitutional amendments that will benefit Missourians.

A volunteer-led campaign in Missouri is pursuing a ballot initiative this November to prevent lawmakers from changing the initiative petition process and ballot measures approved by voters.

A grassroots campaign in Missouri called Respect MO Voters is pushing for the passage of a multi-faceted ballot initiative for a state constitutional amendment as part of the November 2026 midterm election.

A handful of people turned out for an evening town hall last week hosted by Respect MO Voters.

The group, which describes itself as cross partisan, wants more people to help gather signatures to place an issue on the November ballot, protecting Missouri’s initiative petition process. The ongoing town halls include training for those who want to help.

If there was a word to describe the past 12 months in Missouri and Illinois politics and government, deluge would probably top the list.

That’s because 2025 brought about an almost unending string of major news events. It included leadership transitions in Missouri and the St. Louis area and immense conflict within the Missouri General Assembly.

Respect or protect Missouri voters? Is there a difference?

If you ask lawmakers and petitioners throughout the state, that answer is a resounding “yes.”

Two diametrically opposed amendments to the Missouri Constitution regarding the initiative petition process could be hitting the ballot next year.

In that case, voters will have to decide which side they’re on: respecting or protecting.

Organizers of an initiative petition seeking to get a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to ban Missouri lawmakers from what they say is overturning the will of the people report that they are a third of the way there.

The petition will be available to sign at Central Bank in Eldon from 5-7-pm this Wednesday. The group has until the spring to reach its goal of 300,000 signatures.

Respect MO Voters, a campaign advocating for citizen’s rights, is spearheading initiative petition 2026-106.

The petition proposes the Respect Missouri Voters Amendment be made to the Missouri Constitution. This amendment would prevent politicians from overturning Missouri votes, and prevent deceptive practices from being used to confuse Missouri voters, according to the Respect MO Voters website.

To qualify for ballots, Respect MO Voters held a pop-up petition-signing event 5 p.m. Nov. 11 at The Rose Theatre to gather signatures on four key issues.

These issues range in topic from LGBTQ+ rights to the rights of public education, and it included the petition to overturn the recent congressional map.

Missouri politicians are attacking our freedom. They keep overturning measures that voters have passed, and attacking our power to use citizen-led initiative petitions.

But you can do something to stop this once and for all.

More than 1,000 volunteers across the state are collecting signatures to place a measure on the ballot called the Respect Missouri Voters Amendment. It would ban the legislature from overturning measures that voters have approved, requiring an 80% supermajority to send any changes to a vote of the people. It would also prevent politicians from weakening the initiative petition process and require ballot language be clear, easy to understand and not misleading. It’s a citizen initiative to save citizen initiatives.

Approximately 500 people braved soggy, and at times stormy, weather to participate in the “No Kings” protest held Oct. 18 in Hillsboro, organizer Maranda Akers said.

Thousands gathered in cities and towns all over Missouri Saturday at No Kings demonstrations to speak up against the many ways they believe the current administration — both at the federal and state level — is a threat to democracy.

And scattered among the crowds were volunteers with clipboards, collecting signatures for initiative petition campaigns hoping to make the 2026 ballot. 

“We are just out here trying to make sure that the people hold the power and not politicians,” said Drew Amidei, a staff organizer for Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action, at the Jefferson City rally. 

While Missouri lawmakers recently passed a measure to make it tougher to pass citizen-led ballot initiatives, one of those initiatives would preserve the current system as-is.

Marshall Griffin spoke with Benjamin Singer, campaign director for the Respect Missouri Voters campaign.

“If you vote for something, it’s supposed to actually matter,” Slaybaugh said. “And I really feel like we’re disenfranchising an entire generation of voters.”

The group is advocating for a measure that would prevent lawmakers from changing or weakening voter-approved petitions once they pass. Volunteers are working at festivals and community events across Missouri to gather signatures.

Under the Respect MO Voters proposal, passage of a bill changing anything in a successful initiative would require support from 80% of lawmakers in both chambers and be subject to another statewide vote.

The Republican plan to increase the majority requirement found no support at the 25 town halls the campaign has conducted, campaign director Benjamin Singer said.

“What we kept hearing from people across the political spectrum at these town halls and listening sessions was that they wanted it to be as difficult as possible for politicians to repeal or change what the people decided,” Singer said.

Missouri faces a showdown over the initiative petition process, with rival constitutional amendments likely on the November 2026 ballot. Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Ed Lewis, propose requiring constitutional amendments to win majority support in all eight congressional districts, plus added rules like public hearings and a ban on foreign funding. Critics call it a double standard since legislative amendments face no new hurdles. In response, the cross-partisan Respect MO Voters coalition is pushing its own measure to protect citizen powers and prevent lawmakers from overturning voter-approved policies, setting up a major fight over how Missourians shape state law.

Missouri Republicans are using this year's special session to change the state's initiative petition rules to effectively make it impossible for citizens to change the state's constitution. But it would have to be approved by the voters first. Our roundtable of journalists discusses the changes lawmakers could put on your ballot - and the competing initiative you may also see.

Missouri belongs to all of us. And if a nurse from the Lake of the Ozarks can show up for the first time in her life to say enough is enough, then so can we.