Revisiting Abortion Rights

With midterms around the corner, there is much political talk about this election, including Amendment 6. This amendment talks about the congressional districts and what power the lawmakers could have on a congressional map. 

In September, the Supreme Court passed Proposition A, which ruled that the 2026 election will follow the 2022 congressional map, but Proposition A does not have any ruling for the maps on future voting. 

If passed, Amendment 6 would allow for lawsuits to be a reason for the courts to revise ballot summaries, set a limitation on legislature and change the rights that the initiative and referendum petition process has. The initiative and referendum process allows members of a community to collect signatures in order to place legislation on the ballot to be voted on by citizens.

On the legislation side, this amendment will prevent them from rejecting laws that were passed via initiative without at least 80% of the House and the Senate. With the initiative and referendum, it will keep the existing signature requirements and majority vote requirements. 

Political science professor Meg Edwards said she is in support of the initiative and referendum petition process. However, she also said she has concerns the rigidity is too high for the legislature to vote 80%. Edwards said Missouri is one of the only states that passes laws this way, and there are many reasons why people are so interested in Amendment 6, such as a potential ‘flip’ from a Republican to a Democratic vote.

“I think that it is pretty clear there’s a movement in the state legislature. There’s a big break for Democrats as Wellman and Wagner may be flippable,” Edwards said.