JEFFERSON CITY, MO. – Later this year, Missouri voters could see a handful of initiative petitions, like legalizing sports betting, on the ballot.
Earlier this month, four initiative petitions were turned into the secretary of state’s office. Those referendums ranged from overturning the state’s abortion ban to raising the minimum wage, legalizing sports wagering and allowing a new casino near the Lake of the Ozarks. Now, local election authorities are verifying if those signatures came from registered voters.
“I gathered a lot of signatures; I gathered signatures at church, in the break room, at soccer practice, I hit the sidewalks in my neighborhood,” signature gatherer and Columbia resident Crystal Buffaloe said at the beginning of May.
Buffaloe was one of the many Missourians who showed up at the secretary of state’s office on May 1 to deliver 210,000 signatures in hopes of asking voters later this year to increase benefits for workers.
“High-powered executives of companies get paid sick leave, don’t we deserve it as well?” signature gatherer Terrence Wise said.
If approved by voters, the initiative, backed by Missouri Jobs with Justice, would raise the minimum wage from its current $12.30 an hour to $13.75 an hour next year and then to $15 an hour in 2026. After that, it would be based on the consumer price index.
Another part of the ballot question would ask if all employees should be required to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work.
Now that the signatures have been dropped off, the secretary of state’s office has until the beginning of August to certify that at least 107,000 signatures are from registered voters. This is the only statutory amendment set to be on the ballot later this year.
At the same time, Missouri’s six professional sports teams—the St. Louis Cardinals, Blues, CITY SC, the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals, and Current—say they are tired of waiting on lawmakers to legalize sports wagering. The coalition delivered more than 340,000 signatures on May 2 to the secretary of state’s office.
“I think our fans get it,” St. Louis Cardinals General Counsel Mike Whittle said. “They see this revenue going outside of Missouri and they ask the question, why can’t we keep it in Missouri?”
Under the proposed initiative petition, there would be a 10% sports betting tax rate. That money would then go to the Compulsive Gamblers Prevention Fund and Missouri Schools.
“Once it’s passed, Missourians are going to be able to place bets at and around the venues of the professional sports teams,” Winning for Missouri Education spokesman Jack Cardetti said. “They will be able to do it on apps and they will be able to do it at Missouri casinos.”
Another constitutional amendment that could be on the ballot this fall comes after Missourians for Constitutional Freedom gathered more than twice the number of signatures needed in three months to ask voters to overturn the state’s abortion ban.
The group hand-delivered 380,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office on May 3. Missouri was the first state to ban abortion after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2022.
“Missourians have lived in a public health crisis,” Emily Whales of Planned Parenthood Great Plains said. “They know what it is like to not have access to critical care in the moment that you need it and they are going to turn out and make sure they restore that access.”
The final voter-led petition to be dropped off would allow voters to decide if there should be a new casino near the Lake of the Ozarks. The Osage River Gaming and Convention Committee said it turned in more than 320,000 signatures. If approved by voters, the development would include a hotel, convention center and restaurants. The proposal would amend the state’s constitution to allow a casino along the Osage River. Currently, the constitution only allows casinos along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
“I think that is close, if not a high-water mark, for the number of different sets of signatures that we’ve had to check,” Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said.
Now that the signatures have been dropped off, local election authorities must verify that registered voters signed the petitions.
“It’s very common to have rejection rates anywhere from 40% to 50% because you had people that are not voters, you have people that sign, but signed a fake name,” Ashcroft said.
Because of the time it takes for certification, Ashcroft said voters can expect to see these questions on the November ballot, unless the governor uses his authority to move a constitutional amendment up to August.
“If he were to suddenly say that one of these that are having the signatures checked, we would do what we could, but I don’t know if we could do that,” Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft said local election authorities have until the end of July to verify signatures, then his office will do an audit before a certificate of sufficiency is signed.
There will also be three other initiatives on the ballot this year that were previously approved by lawmakers. Gov. Mike Parson’s office announcing Tuesday that two of those referendums will be on the August ballot.
Voters will see Amendment 1 and Amendment 4 on the ballot in August. Amendment 1 would ask voters to exempt property tax, both real and personal property, used primarily for the care of a child outside of the home.
Amendment 4 is no stranger to the voters. Last month, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the fiscal note summary misled voters back in 2022, meaning election results must be tossed. This referendum asks voters to allow for a law that increases minimum funding to 25% for the Kansas City Police Department.
Parson’s office said that all other ballot measures are expected to be on the November ballot if certified by the secretary of state’s office.
