CNN: ‘Our Constitution is easy prey’: Republican-led states try to shut down liberal ballot initiatives

In 2018, Toni Easter held a party in her yard in St. Louis to promote what would become a successful ballot initiative on redistricting — only to see it overturned when Republican lawmakers in Missouri put a competing initiative on the ballot.

Then last year, she collected signatures in the successful effort to enshrine abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution. This year, the legislature approved a new referendum to try to reverse it.

“Our civil rights are being taken away,” said Easter, a retired fashion industry executive and co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. Her group is working to put another measure on the Missouri ballot in 2026, one that would bar the state’s lawmakers from overturning citizen-approved initiatives.

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Respect Missouri Voters, the group Easter helped found, is now seeking volunteers to get an initiative on the 2026 ballot that would bar lawmakers from overturning citizen-led initiatives.

If successful, it would demonstrate that “people can reclaim their power,” she said, “and we could actually have effective governance that represents us and our needs.”

The group is hoping to raise $300,000 and recruit 2,500 volunteers by the end of this month so it can start collecting signatures in July.

You can read the full article on CNN here.