Missouri

Missouri is the first state where voters will decide whether to repeal an existing constitutional right to abortion. The legislature passed the repeal 103-51 in the House and 21-11 in the Senate, eighteen months after 1.5 million Missourians voted to protect that right.

That repeal is one of up to nine ballot measures voters face in 2026. The legislature also gerrymandered congressional districts on Trump’s orders and proposed killing the citizen initiative process. Medicaid expansion, which voters approved in 2020, is running out of money.

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The legislature is trying to repeal what voters just approved

Missouri voters added a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” to the state constitution in November 2024. The margin was 52%-48%. Eighteen months later, the legislature voted to put repeal on the November 2026 ballot.

HJR 73 bans abortion and also targets gender-affirming care for minors, including surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers. Rape and incest exceptions are limited to the first 12 weeks.

The ballot language itself became a fight. Courts found the original summary “misleading” because it never told voters that a “yes” vote would repeal the reproductive rights amendment they had just passed. The Missouri Court of Appeals rewrote the summary in December 2025, adding explicit “yes means repeal” and “no means keep” language.

Vote	Body	Margin	Date
Voters approve Amendment 3	Statewide election	52%-48%	November 5, 2024
House passes repeal (HJR 73)	Missouri House	103-51	April 17, 2025
Senate passes repeal	Missouri Senate	21-11	May 14, 2025
Repeal goes to voters	November ballot	TBD	November 3, 2026

Rep. Ed Lewis, the repeal sponsor, said voters got it wrong. “To say I want to terminate this other person’s life because it’s inconvenient for me, I don’t think most people in the state of Missouri line up in that position.” House Minority Leader Ashley Aune responded directly. “If you think they made a mistake for supporting Amendment 3, how can you think that they didn’t make a mistake when they voted for you?”

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Trump ordered a gerrymander and Missouri delivered

President Trump pressured Republican states to redraw congressional maps mid-decade. Governor Kehoe called a special session on September 3, 2025. Three weeks later he signed a map designed to flip the 5th District from safe-blue to GOP-leaning.

The new map splits Jackson County between three congressional districts. The dividing line between the 4th and 5th Districts is Troost Avenue, a street that has served as the line of racial segregation in Kansas City for a century.

300,000+ signatures submitted by “People Not Politicians” to force a referendum on the gerrymandered map

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has held the 5th District since 2005. His redrawn district now stretches east to Osage County, far from its Kansas City base. Cleaver testified before the Missouri Senate against the map.

The Missouri Supreme Court upheld the map on May 12, 2026, rejecting compactness challenges and ruling that signatures gathered before October 14 were contested. Whether the referendum reaches the ballot depends on final signature verification by the Secretary of State.

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The income-to-sales-tax swap that would raise taxes on 80% of Missourians

Amendment 5 appears on the August 4, 2026 ballot. It phases out Missouri’s 4.7% income tax and gives lawmakers five years to replace the revenue with expanded sales taxes. For those five years, the legislature can bypass the Hancock Amendment, which normally requires voter approval for significant tax increases.

The amendment passed the House 95-59. It does not define which services get taxed. Rent, healthcare, and car repairs could all become taxable.

Older adults and active duty military, whose income is largely exempt from state income tax, would face especially steep increases.

A lawsuit filed May 22, 2026 in Cole County argues lawmakers bundled too many subjects into one proposal. The Missouri Budget Project called it “an ill-conceived tax proposal” that would “increase taxes for most Missourians, damage communities and economy.”

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They want to kill the citizen initiative process

Amendment 4, also on the August 4 ballot, would require citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to win a majority in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. A statewide simple majority would no longer be enough. No state in the country has this requirement.

Ballotpedia analyzed every Missouri ballot initiative since 2020 under the proposed rule. Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization, and abortion rights all would have failed. Every single one.

The amendment also bans foreign nationals from contributing to ballot measure campaigns and makes petition signature fraud a crime. Those provisions are popular on their own, which is why critics say they were bundled with the supermajority requirement to make the whole package harder to oppose.

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Medicaid expansion is hitting a funding cliff

Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion in 2020. The state received $968 million in temporary federal funding to cover its share. As of September 30, 2025, the reserve balance was $532.2 million. It could be exhausted by late 2026.

For the first time since voters approved expansion, Missouri’s general revenue fund is being tapped to pay for it.

$17 billion projected federal Medicaid funding loss over the next decade

Federal law will require Medicaid enrollees ages 19-64 to verify 80 hours per month of work or school by January 1, 2027. An estimated 90,000 Missourians are projected to lose coverage from this requirement alone. Over the next decade, approximately 130,000 people are projected to lose coverage total.

The legislature is letting expansion run out of money while moving to put work requirements in the state Constitution. That would make them harder to roll back through future ballot initiatives.

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Up to nine ballot measures in one year

Missouri voters could face nine constitutional amendments across two elections in 2026. The legislature controls what goes on which ballot and when.

Ballot	Amendment	What it does
August 4	Amendment 1	Renews sales tax for state parks and soil conservation
August 4	Amendment 2	Requires direct election of county assessors statewide
August 4	Amendment 4	Requires initiative petitions to win majority in all 8 congressional districts
August 4	Amendment 5	Phases out income tax, expands sales taxes
November 3	Amendment 3	Repeals abortion rights amendment, bans gender-affirming care for minors
November 3	Amendment 6	”Respect MO Voters” citizen initiative (if qualified)
November 3	Amendment 8	Makes county sheriff a constitutional office
November 3	Referendum	Challenges the gerrymandered congressional map (pending signature verification)

The legislature placed the tax swap and initiative petition restrictions on the August primary, when turnout is lowest. The abortion repeal goes on the November general election ballot, when turnout is highest but the legislature believes the issue energizes its base.

Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s former attorney general, resigned in September 2025 to become FBI co-deputy director. As AG, Bailey refused to release prisoners after overturned convictions and fought the original Amendment 3. He now helps run federal law enforcement.

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Protect yourself right now

1. Check your voter registration. Missouri’s primary is August 4, 2026. The registration deadline is July 8. Verify your status at sos.mo.gov/elections. The November general election registration deadline is October 7.

2. Know what is on your ballot. You face up to nine constitutional amendments across two elections. Read the full text of each measure before you vote. The Secretary of State is required to provide the complete language.

3. Vote in the August primary. The income tax swap and initiative petition restrictions are on the August ballot specifically because primary turnout is low. Showing up is the countermove.

4. Track the redistricting referendum. The petition to challenge the gerrymandered map is pending signature verification. Follow the campaign “People Not Politicians” for updates on whether it makes the November ballot.

5. Call the governor’s office. 573-751-3222. Ask why the legislature is overriding voter-approved Medicaid expansion, voter-approved abortion rights, and the citizen initiative process all in the same year.