What’s on the Ballot Missouri?
This is the most important midterm election in recent history for the people of Missouri. There are four proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot and Proposition A, which would alter the congressional map of Missouri dramatically. Here’s what you need to know about each amendment as described by the fair ballot language of the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
The most heavily debated topic is the return of Amendment 3 to the ballot. 2024’s Amendment 3 was approved by popular vote and created a provision in the Missouri state constitution that added a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which includes abortion and all matters relating to reproductive health care. Now Amendment 3 is back on the ballot in 2026 with a few changes, politicians have now reworded the amendment so that a yes or no vote means the opposite of what it meant for the original Amendment 3 in 2024.
According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office a yes vote on Amendment 3 in 2026 “ will repeal Article I, Section 36, of the Missouri Constitution approved by the voters in 2024 which provided reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability; continue to ensure women’s ability to access medical care for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages; allow legislation to regulate abortion providers and facilities to ensure health and safety; require informed and voluntary consent for an abortion, including parental or judicial consent for minors; allow restriction of abortions to cases of medical emergency, rape and incest under twelve weeks gestation, and fetal anomalies; prohibit public funding of abortions except in limited circumstances; and prohibit gender transition procedures for minors including gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs, with exceptions for specific medical conditions.”
Amendment 3 will effectively allow the Missouri state legislature to ban or severely limit access to abortion in the state and will also prohibit any gender transition assistive procedures to minors.
Amendment 6 has been the second most talked about issue on the ballot. Amendment 6 was created in response to the Missouri State Legislature’s attempts to weaken 2024’s Amendment 3 and Proposition A passings’ with legislation that would repeal parts of each law.
Currently, the Missouri state legislature has the power to alter laws passed by citizen initiatives in one of two ways. If the law in question is a constitutional amendment, the legislature would have to propose their own amendment that would de facto repeal original legislation and have it approved by the majority of the people. If the law is a statute, the people are completely bypassed as the legislature can repeal the law by a simple majority in both houses and approval from the governor, which happened in 2025 when Gov. Mike Kehoe repealed part of 2024’s Proposition A just six months after it had been passed by voters. Amendment 6 would make it tougher for legislators to alter citizen initiatives.
According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, “”A ‘“yes’” vote will prohibit the people’s elected representatives from directly amending or changing any law enacted through the initiative process; require that any modifications to laws enacted through the initiative process be referred to the people by a vote of at least 80% of each chamber of the General Assembly; restrict the legislature from passing laws that limit the ability to pursue initiatives and referenda; maintain the current signature requirements of five percent of the individual legal voters in each of two-thirds of Missouri’s congressional districts for proposing a law; maintain the current signature requirement of eight percent of individual legal voters in each of two-thirds of Missouri’s congressional districts for proposing a constitutional amendment; and maintain the current requirement that a simple statewide majority of votes cast on a measure by individual legal voters is sufficient to enact any law or constitutional amendment.”
If passed, Amendment 6this would ensure that any law originally passed by citizen initiative must be referred back to the people before any changes could be made and restrict the legislature from changing the current initiative.
Proposition A on the 2026 ballot concerns a different subject matter than that of 2024’s Proposition A. 2026’s Proposition A is a simple question asking Missourians to approve or disapprove of a redrawing of Missouri’s congressional maps spearheaded by Gov. Mike Kehoe in 2025. The new map would change the shape of dDistricts 4 and District 5 which contain Kansas City and the surrounding area. Currently, dDistrict 5 contains all of the Kansas City metropolitan areas and is one of two districts that voted to send a Democrat to the US House of Representatives in 2022. The new map would split the Kansas City area between dDistrict 6 and District 4 which both voted Republican in 2022, effectively spreading a concentrated area of Democrat voters amongst two districts in which they could never reach a majority because of the sheer amount of Republican voters elsewhere in the districts.
Also on the ballot are constitutional aAmendments 7 and 8. Amendment 7 concerns establishing the Show-Me-Prosperity Investment Fund. If passed, it would create a sovereign wealth fund held by the state government with the goal of eliminating all state taxation of Missourians. The fund would generate wealth by the legislature appropriating current tax dollars to the fund, donations and grants and investment in exchange traded funds tied to the S&P 500.
No money from the fund could be appropriated until the fund holds enough that it could cover the loss of revenue from cutting taxes.
Amendment 8 focuses on requiring the election of county sheriffs to four-year terms in most counties. In Missouri, most sheriffs are already elected to four-year terms but this measure would simply enshrine it in law. Amendment 8 would also make it more difficult to remove a sheriff from office. Currently, local circuit attorneys and county prosecutors can initiate the removal of a sheriff, and Amendment 8 would require that the Attorney General issue a writ of quo warranto against the sheriff before they could be removed.
