(Jefferson City, Missouri) – A lawsuit filed today in Cole County Circuit Court challenges the fairness and accuracy of language in a legislatively proposed 2026 ballot measure that would vastly weaken Missouri’s century-old citizen initiative petition process.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys representing Missourians for Fair Governance (MFG), a campaign committee created by Missouri REALTORS® to protect our citizens’ power to directly propose laws and constitutional amendments for voter approval.
The lawsuit challenges the truthfulness and impartiality of the ballot language and other elements of House Joint Resolution 3 (HJR3). The lawsuit asks the court to order “new, fair and sufficient” ballot language to better inform voters about the impact of the proposed constitutional amendment, which was approved this year by the General Assembly.
“Missouri REALTORS®’ opposed HJR3 while it was being considered by lawmakers, and it has been our policy to defend our citizens’ initiative petition process,” said Larry Keating, Chairman of Missourians for Fair Governance and a former Missouri REALTORS® president from Jefferson City. “That is why MFG has filed this lawsuit – voters deserve clarity on the ballot when they are being asked to surrender their long-held rights and make some votes count less than others. This is not a partisan issue. Helping voters to be informed is bigger than any party or ideology.”
Bobbi Howe of St. Joseph, and current President of Missouri REALTORS®, said this about the issue: “The citizen initiative process is a power Missouri voters approved for themselves more than a century ago, which our association has been able to use to fight for Missouri homeowners and families. We are committed to protecting the rights and the availability of this important tool for everyone.”
Missouri REALTORS®, the state’s largest professional association with more than 25,000 members, have twice used the citizen initiative petition process to protect the pocketbooks of Missourians. In 2010, voters approved a REALTOR®-backed constitutional amendment barring transfer taxes on sales of property, and then in 2016, voters approved a REALTORS®-proposed ban on sales taxes on services Missourians use every day.
Key points in the lawsuit include:
- HJR3’s ballot summary statement “prejudicially and impermissibly” fails to state the measure’s central purpose, which is repealing Missouri citizens’ long-held right to vote by majority in favor of citizen-led initiatives to amend the Constitution.
- The HJR3 ballot summary statement also fails to inform voters that their votes would be counted differently, based upon the congressional district in which they live. That would give voters from less populous rural districts greater influence over the outcome than voters in urban districts.
- HJR3’s ballot summary also fails to advise voters that the measure does not change the approval threshold for constitutional amendments that are sent to the ballot by the General Assembly. Those questions would still need a only a simple statewide majority vote to pass.
- The ballot summary also fails to tell voters that three provisions of HJR3 already are part of state law, and that HJR3 only re-states them. These existing provisions in law already (1) ban foreign nationals and foreign adversaries from donating money to ballot issue campaigns, (2) already punish petition signature fraud as a crime; and (3) require public hearings before initiative petitions may be placed on the ballot.
- The lawsuit says HJR3’s ballot summary intentionally lists the major changes below those provisions already in law, “to conceal the central purpose of HJR3, which is to limit citizens’ ability to approve citizen-led initiative petitions to amend the Constitution.”
- “This change impacts a fundamental right,” the lawsuit says. “Voters must be notified that the measure will repeal this existing right.”
- The lawsuit continues: “By combining language that claims to adopt laws that are in fact already laws with substantive changes that impact the fundamental right of voters to approve, by a simple majority, citizen-led efforts to change the Constitution, HJR3’s ballot title is a fraud on the voters.”
- HJR3’s fiscal note, listing the costs of implementing the measure, also lowballs the amount by at least $10 million, by failing to mention printing costs submitted by the Secretary of State. The State Auditor is responsible for compiling the fiscal note, which currently says projected costs of implementation are less than $22,000.
