In 2018, we the people approved Clean Missouri (on the ballot as Amendment 1), a package of reforms that made our state politics fairer, less partisan, and gave more power to the people. It passed in a landslide, with 62 percent of the vote. It won in every state Senate district. Now it’s under attack.
To me, the most important reforms were those that prevented gerrymandering. We took the power to draw state Senate and House districts away from career politicians and shadowy lobbyists and gave it to a nonpartisan demographer. We said districts should be based on fairness, not partisan politics.
Now, politicians in the Missouri House of Representatives are trying to overturn our vote with a plan called SJR 38. Their plan would gerrymander our state. But it’s worse: They’re also blatantly disregarding the will of the people during a pandemic. We already said NO to gerrymandering in 2018.
I called Governor Parson’s office to ask him why, in the midst of a national crisis, politicians in Jefferson City are scrambling to overturn the will of the people. A spokesperson told me that I didn’t understand what I voted for, and neither did the 1.4 million Missourians who supported Clean Missouri.
I know what I voted for. I voted for fairness. I voted to clean up Missouri politics. And I’ll vote for fairness again. That’s why I’m asking you to join me, and call your state Representative and demand they vote NO on SJR 38.
Lili Siegel Sachar is a retired nurse and community volunteer. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, and the proud caretaker of two rescue dogs.
