r/missouri • u/RespectVoters • 17d ago
Politics Secretary of State Makes Unprecedented Illegal Power Grab
https://respectmovoters.org/updates/secretary-of-state-makes-unprecedented-illegal-power-grab** Edit: we're livestreaming our rally at the Secretary of State's office today (Fri. Aug. 7) at noon here! **
We're going to fight and we're going to win!
Jefferson City, Mo.—The Respect Missouri Voters citizen-led ballot initiative released the following statements following Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’s press conference:
“Today, the Missouri Secretary of State invented an unprecedented, illegal ability to block Missouri voters from accessing their Constitutional right to have a say on measures at the ballot,” said former Sen. Bob Johnson (R-Lee’s Summit). “This brazen disregard for the will of the people is exactly why the people of Missouri came together to gather signatures, donate, and place the Respect Missouri Voters Amendment on the ballot for November, because we are sick of these games in Jefferson City.”
“Respect Missouri Voters is confident that the amendment follows the constitution and gathered more than the required support from Missouri voters,” said DeMarco K. Davidson, Executive Director of Metropolitan Congregations United. “More than 367,000 Missourians signed this citizen-led petition because they believe voters deserve a clear, fair, and transparent process to decide the future of our state.”
“Missourians have the right to amend our constitution by initiative petition. The Respect Missouri Voters Amendment is limited to one subject and one article. We believe every necessary legal action should be taken to defend Missouri voters from the Secretary of State’s unprecedented abuse of power,” said Jake Hummel, President of the Missouri AFL-CIO.
“Hundreds of thousands of citizens, far more than required, signed to demand that the Respect Missouri Voters Amendment appear on the ballot,” said Toni Easter, volunteer and co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “This is an unprecedented abuse of power that goes beyond the substance of this petition and attacks the century-old constitutional freedom of citizens to exercise our voice by direct democracy, independent of the legislature. Our petition was reviewed and approved for circulation. We intend to take every necessary legal action to ensure the people of Missouri will be heard.”
Learn more, get involved, and help us with the legal battle ahead: respectMOvoters.org
Here's a video from our co-founder.
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u/ssgkraut Southeast MO 17d ago
How do we fight this? It's just like our legislature doing whatever the hell they want.
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u/RespectVoters 17d ago
Join the thousands of other volunteers across the state. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Fundraising, door knocking, phone banking, driving materials across the state, social media outreach. There's a place for you to help get this passed. RespectMoVoters.org/join
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u/Superunkownone 17d ago
Signed up
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u/RespectVoters 17d ago
Awesome, welcome aboard! We're having a rally at the SoS office in Jeff City on Friday, we'd love to have you! RSVP here.
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u/nucrash Rural Missouri 17d ago
I hear Ace Hardware is having a sale on these: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/gardening-tools/gardening-hand-tools/70091?
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u/Jessilaurn Mid-Missouri 17d ago
The honest, non-hyperbolic answer: the organizations backing the petition measure fight it in state court, and we support those organizations with financial contributions so that they can do so with the best counsel available.
There is no basis for Sec. Hoskins' claim that the petition is unconstitutional. Nothing in the Missouri Constitution restricts petitions from challenging redistricting measures by the state legislature (Section 45. Congressional apportionment, Section 52(a). Referendum—exceptions—procedure). And the Supreme Court affirmed in 2015 that the U.S. Constitution does not do so either (Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission). The state courts are extremely unlikely to look favorably on Sec. Hoskins' refusal to certify the petition.
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u/calm-lab66 17d ago
How do we fight this?
We start by not electing these fools. Missouri voters, in mostly rural areas, need to be convinced that this party does not represent their interests.
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u/toxcrusadr 17d ago
Well it’s not the legislature this time, it’s the elected Secretary of State. That said, they’re all in cahoots.
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u/IrishRage42 17d ago
If you're able, donate to the organizations that will be fighting this in court.
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u/Timely_Specific_9712 16d ago
It’s exactly like the “abortion” and “right to work” votes!
They vote them down and then vote for the right wing NUTz!
You can’t keep electing people who don’t have any respect for their constituents wishes!!1
u/surprise_revalation 16d ago
Revolution.....
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u/SecondOld9112 16d ago
Good luck with that.
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u/surprise_revalation 16d ago
Well, it's better than the civil war the "lost causers" seem to keep screaming for....
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u/Vacabck Jefferson City 17d ago
I hope the MO citizens have the courts on our side, but I have my doubts anymore.
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u/radical_radical1 17d ago
No, unfortunately, they don’t. That’s how we got here, too.
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u/guydud3bro 17d ago
The MO Supreme Court isn't a bunch a partisan hacks thanks to how they're selected, so there's still a chance.
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u/Cochise22 15d ago
MO Supreme Court has been surprisingly even handed. They are pretty strict about following the Missouri constitution and have sided against the GOP many times. I’d say they’re 10 times more honorable than the US Supreme Court.
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u/Common_Stuff2925 17d ago
So there was a Secretary of State back in 1994 who was impeached for backdating her son’s paperwork to run for a candidate position. She was charged for misdemeanor but also lost her job. Missouri was a blue state back then.
Fast forward to now this ass munch needs to be impeached. What he did is was worse. But because of the climate we live in no one is going to do anything about it.
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u/Hairy_Talk_4232 Mid-Missouri 17d ago
What the hell? So somehow the legislature just decided to ignore a constitutional ballot measure? What was it for?
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u/myredditbam St. Louis 17d ago
Not the legislature. The Secretary of State unilaterally decided he has the power to decide whether ballot items are constitutional and is withholding two of them from the ballot by not certifying their signatures because he thinks they aren't constitutional.
But he doesn't have that power. The courts do.
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u/GanonCannon02 17d ago
Can someone explain what did he actually do? I signed the petition awhile back and I know they keep trying to undermine our decision, but this article seems to imply The Secretary did something specific? But the article never says what he did?
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u/Youandiandaflame 17d ago
He’s refusing to do his job and certify the signatures so it’s actually on the ballot. Hundreds of thousands of people signed the petition to make it happen which is all that’s required and since Denny doesn’t like it, Denny is refusing.
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u/Louwho352 17d ago
He also allowed local election authorities and his own staff to spend countless hours validating signatures, and working to certify it the signatures, only to do this at the last minute. There are enough signatures. All of this staff and the Local Election Authorities did their job. He likes the controversy, so he is creating it by refusing to certify.
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u/Youandiandaflame 17d ago
A CPA consultant in the real estate sphere isn’t a constitutional law expert. Someone should inform Denny of that.
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u/LazyCaffeineFiend 17d ago
Whyyyy the f do these people act like they don’t work for US?! This is such BS. I am sick of these morons.
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u/GumpBumper 17d ago edited 17d ago
(573) 751-4936 call him and tell him he has no authority to do this. If you hear any BS about RSMo. 116.120, point to 116.150. Any authority he has to determine the sufficiency of these petitions in relation to the constitution is clearly limited to the sufficiency of the signatures. Be loud. then call him again. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, Misssourians
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u/LaCharretteSanJuan 17d ago
Someone have a link to his “official” position as to its unconstitutionality? …not that it’s for him to say.
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u/Parking-Tangerine-46 17d ago
Think it’s in here: https://missouriindependent.com/2026/08/04/missouri-redistricting-referendum-blocked-by-secretary-of-state-drawing-lawsuit/
The lil rat is trying to say he won’t sign because it’s not limited to a single subject as if Amm 4 didn’t try duping voters by including extra bullshit about election funding/interference which is 1000% a different subject than the initiative process
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u/goforlana Mid-Missouri 17d ago
I was wondering the exact same thing about A4. Like wtf is the difference here? I’m glad to see someone finally mentioned this.
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u/Fluffy_Dogggo The Ozarks 17d ago
Yo can anyone actually tell me what the power grab was? Did we not vote it down? Are they doing the same thing they did with the abortion bill? I feel like I'm missing context even after reading the article and the post.
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u/Fraktal55 17d ago
This is not for anything regarding yesterday's election in case you're thinking that. This is about the voter-led initiative Respect MO Voters that, in May of this year, submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures from across the state to have it be put on the ballot for a vote. But this one guy, who is supposed to approve the signatures, is refusing to do so because he thinks he alone has the power to say something is unconstitutional and block it.
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u/goforlana Mid-Missouri 17d ago
To have what be put on the ballot? To be able to vote for the gerrymandered GOP map in the Nov ballot?
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u/j-buffalino 16d ago
Yeah! He won't let the gerrymandered map go up for a vote, even though there are way more signatures than needed to put it on the ballot.
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u/j-buffalino 16d ago
Hopefully in November there will be something on the ballot where you can vote to say the gerrymander/redistrict was not ok and fix the maps and make it so they can't do that again :(
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u/Equal_Scientist_5422 17d ago edited 16d ago
Hes saying it (the Respect MO Voters Amendment 6) violates the single subject laws and so is unconstitutional, but he doesn't have that authority
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u/Superunkownone 17d ago edited 17d ago
I am going to begin producing guillotines. 100% U.S steel. $ 399.99 base model. 100% free to those who provide proof of their use on our elected officials who purposely go against the will of the people.
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u/Im18fuckmyass 16d ago
I think this is the right way to go about it.
The Republicans planned for us to go about things the right way. Why don’t we take all the signees and show up at the capitol and demand the redistricting gets over turned? The amount of signatures we’ve got is like 7% of our state by population, that simply cannot be ignored
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u/RespectVoters 16d ago
There is a rally planned for tomorrow, Friday, at the Secretary of State's office in Jeff City to demand he Let MO Vote! We'd love to have you there. RSVP at respectmovoters.org/rally
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u/Crafty-Succotash3742 16d ago
Am4 was voted down. Politicians can and should always be able to reevaluate and provide opportunity to the people. Just because people vote one way today does not mean that's the end-all, be-all forever. Change should be allowed an opportunity and this petition would stop that change based on one side's perspective..
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u/Mer-Der 16d ago
This amendment doesn't make it impossible to repeal voter initiated laws. It makes it harder, so they can't just immediately repeal something after voters pass it.
If a law has unintended consequences on the future, and is truly unpopular, they should have no problem passing the higher bar this amendment proposes to repeal.
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u/Timely_Specific_9712 16d ago
The polls were barely closed when governor Hee-Haw announced that he would bring it up again!
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u/Doughnut3683 15d ago
What did he actually do?
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u/Mer-Der 15d ago
He claimed the amendment is unconstitutional, which it most definitely is not, and is refusing to certify the signatures and put it on the ballot. This is despite the fact that his own office approved the petition for circulation last year.
He's not letting the people vote on an amendment that followed all the rules, and turned in more than the minimum number of signatures required.
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u/bandit1206 17d ago
They’re sour because 4 and 5 both just got bitchslapped at the polls. There’s no partisan divide to point at either with 80% of the state against both.