Amendment 6: Your Vote Should Count After Election Day, Too

In 2024, 58% of Missouri voters passed paid sick leave. In 2025, the state legislature repealed it.¹

That’s legal under Missouri law today. When voters pass a law at the ballot box, lawmakers can undo it the next session with a simple majority. They don’t have to ask you again. Amendment 6 changes that. It’s on your ballot Tuesday, November 3.

What does Amendment 6 do?

It makes four changes to the Missouri Constitution:²

1. If voters pass it, politicians can’t undo it on their own. Changing or repealing a law voters approved would take 80% of the state legislature and a new statewide vote.
2. If voters reject it, politicians can’t sneak it back through. Passing something “similar in effect” to a measure voters turned down would face the same 80% bar and a statewide vote.
3. Ballot language has to be fair. Ballot summaries must be clear, unbiased, fair, accurate and easy to understand, and courts can fix them when they aren’t.
4. The rules for citizen petitions stay put. Lawmakers can’t raise signature requirements, shorten the time to gather signatures, add new district-by-district hurdles or limit your right to go to court. Any change to those rules would go to voters first.

Majority rule stays. The signature requirements stay. Amendment 6 doesn’t make it easier to put something on the ballot. It makes sure that what voters decide actually lasts.

More than 367,000 Missourians signed the petition to put it on the ballot. On September 3, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously that voters should decide.³

Has this really happened before?

Yes. On issue after issue, and under different leadership for decades, Missouri lawmakers have overridden voters:

• 2024 to 2025: Voters raised the minimum wage and tied future raises to inflation. The same 2025 bill that repealed paid sick leave also repealed the inflation raises.⁴
• 2020 to 2021: Voters approved Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers refused to fund it until the Missouri Supreme Court stepped in.⁵
• 2010 to 2011: Voters approved new dog-breeding standards, including a cap of 50 breeding dogs. The next year, lawmakers stripped out key parts, the cap included.¹
• 1999 to 2003: Voters rejected a statewide measure, 59% to 41%. Four years later, lawmakers passed it anyway.¹
• The 1980s: Lawmakers tried to undercut a voter-approved limit on taxes. The governor vetoed it and called it an attempt to silence voters.¹

Missouri is one of 11 states with no limits at all on lawmakers undoing laws voters pass.⁶ Missourians have had the right to put issues on the ballot since 1908. Amendment 6 makes sure that right still means something after the votes are counted.

What did voters say in August?

On August 4, voters faced two constitutional amendments that lawmakers put on the ballot:

• Amendment 4 would have required citizen amendments to win in every one of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. One district could have vetoed the whole state. Voters rejected it 80% to 20%.
• Amendment 5 would have overhauled the state income tax. Voters rejected it with 83% voting no, roughly five no votes for every yes.

Both failed in all eight congressional districts.⁷ That isn’t a regional split or a close call. Missouri voters are paying attention and know what they want. Amendment 6 makes sure lawmakers respect it.

Why does ballot language matter?

For most voters, the short summary on the ballot is all they read before they decide. When that summary is slanted, you can end up voting against what you actually want.

In about 18 months, Missouri courts have thrown out unfair or misleading ballot language 8 times. That includes summaries for Amendments 4 and 5, a public education initiative and a redistricting referendum. Every one of those fixes took a lawsuit.⁸

You shouldn’t need a lawyer to get a straight question on your ballot. Amendment 6 requires ballot language to be fair from the start.

What do opponents say?

“It will tie lawmakers’ hands on crime and taxes.”
It only covers laws voters themselves passed or rejected.⁹ The legislature keeps full power over everything else it writes.

“80% is too high.”
It’s high on purpose. A real fix can earn broad support and a second yes from voters. A repeal of something voters wanted can’t, and that’s the point. Citizens can also still change any voter-passed law the way it got there: by petition and a simple majority.

“Lawmakers need to be able to fix mistakes.”
They still can. A genuine fix needs support from both sides of the aisle and voter sign-off. What Amendment 6 stops is a repeal dressed up as a fix.

“We’re a republic, not a direct democracy.”
Missouri’s constitution has included the citizen initiative since 1908. Amendment 6 doesn’t add a new power. It keeps lawmakers from erasing the results of one voters already have.

“It will lock in bad laws forever.”
Nothing is locked. Voters can change any law by petition. Lawmakers can change voter-passed laws with 80% and your approval. The only thing that changes is who gets the last word.

“It’s really about one issue.”
It’s about every issue voters decide, from wages to health care to whatever comes next. Amendment 6 doesn’t take a side on any of them.

Why does a public school group care?

Across the Aisle for Missouri Public Schools exists because public schools belong to all of us, across party lines. Communities speak up for their schools at the ballot box, on levies, bonds and statewide questions. That only works if what voters decide actually holds.

When Jefferson City won’t act, the ballot is how Missourians act for themselves. Amendment 6 protects that tool. It also protects fair ballot language, so any question that affects our schools is asked plainly.

This isn’t a left or right idea. It’s a Missouri idea.

How and when do I vote?

• Register by Wednesday, October 7. You can register or check your status online, by mail or in person.
• Vote early in person from Tuesday, October 20 through Monday, November 2. No excuse needed. Check your county clerk’s office for hours.
• Vote by mail if you qualify. Mail ballots require an excuse, and your request must reach your election office by 5 p.m. Wednesday, October 21.
• Vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Bring a photo ID. If you don’t have one, you can cast a provisional ballot.¹⁰

Your vote should count after Election Day, too. Vote Yes on Amendment 6.

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Sources

1. Paid sick leave (58%, 2024) and its 2025 repeal; Medicaid expansion funding fight; 2010 dog-breeding law; 1999 measure rejected 59% and passed by lawmakers in 2003; 1980s tax-limit veto. Missouri Independent, July 28, 2025.

2. Amendment 6 provisions and ballot language. Respect MO Voters; Ballotpedia News, September 9, 2026.

3. 80% legislative threshold plus statewide vote; unanimous Missouri Supreme Court ruling; 367,000+ signatures. Missouri Independent, September 3, 2026; St. Louis Public Radio, September 3, 2026.

4. HB 567, signed July 10, 2025, repealed paid sick leave and the minimum wage inflation adjustments. Littler, July 2025.

5. Missouri Supreme Court rules voter-approved Medicaid expansion is constitutional. Missouri Independent, July 22, 2021.

6. Missouri is one of 11 states with citizen-initiated statutes and no limits on amending or repealing them. Ballotpedia News, September 9, 2026.

7. Amendment 4 lost 80% to 20% and Amendment 5 lost 83% to 16%; all eight congressional districts opposed both. Missouri Independent, August 4, 2026.

8. Courts acted on 8 ballot measures in about 18 months (5 summaries by the Secretary of State, 3 by lawmakers). Missouri Independent, June 12, 2026.

9. Scope of Amendment 6 and the “similar in effect” provision. Missouri Independent, September 22, 2026.

10. Registration deadline, early voting, mail voting, ID and polling hours. VOTE411 Missouri.

Paid for by Across the Aisle for Missouri Public Schools, Jacque Cowherd, Treasurer