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For nearly a century, Missouri was considered a bellwether — a leader or indicator of the political trends of the nation.

If you wanted to take the nation’s pulse, there was no better place to look than the heart of our country. Between 1904 and 2004, Missouri’s electoral votes reflected the winning presidential candidate in every single election minus Eisenhower’s re-election in 1956. Today, Missouri’s voting patterns no longer predict presidential outcomes with the same consistency they used to, but what is happening within Missouri’s systems of government is increasingly a microcosm of what is unfolding across the United States.

Missouri’s proposed Amendment 4, which is on the state’s ballots this August, is an example of a broader nationwide trend in which state legislatures and special interest groups across the country are changing the rules that govern public participation to consolidate political power, weaken accountability, and limit the public’s ability to influence decisions.

What is unfolding in Missouri reflects a broader national test of whether our civic institutions will continue to preserve meaningful public participation.

What is unfolding in Missouri reflects a broader national test of whether our civic institutions will continue to preserve meaningful public participation.

This ballot measure in Missouri seeks to alter the process for how citizen-initiated constitutional amendments are approved. If passed, Amendment 4 would replace Missouri’s longstanding simple-majority standard with additional requirements, making it substantially more difficult for citizen-led constitutional amendments to succeed.

The questions confronting Missouri today are not unique to Missourians. They are questions that communities across the country are wrestling with: Who gets to make the decisions that shape our lives? And what happens when the people and their government disagree?

Organizers in Idaho, Nevada, and Virginia Are........

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