{"id":1332,"date":"2026-08-05T18:39:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2026-08-05T18:39:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:39:01","slug":"voters-reject-gop-power-grab-referendum-measures-in-kansas-and-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1332","title":{"rendered":"Voters Reject GOP \u201cPower Grab\u201d Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a <\/span><\/i>quick donation<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Jon Stewart Grills Fetterman, Reminding Him That Israel Is \u201cNot Our Country\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, voters in Kansas and Missouri overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures proposed by Republican lawmakers that aimed to restrict their democratic and human rights.<\/p>\n

In Kansas, proposed Amendment 1 would have required direct elections for state Supreme Court justices. The measure was introduced by Republicans in the state legislature to counter the process for appointing jurists to the state\u2019s highest court, which has protected reproductive rights over the past decade despite efforts by the GOP to pass laws restricting abortion.<\/p>\n

As of 9 am Central Time on Wednesday, that measure was losing, with 61.3 percent of voters rejecting the idea. Several counties in the state, including in rural areas that have traditionally sided with Republicans, voted against it as well.<\/p>\n

The rejection of the measure comes just four years after Republicans sought to reverse the state Supreme Court\u2019s abortion protections in a different ballot measure in 2022. <\/p>\n

Missouri voters also rejected a measure aimed at curtailing voters\u2019 right to self-determination at the ballot box. Proposed Amendment 4 would have changed the ballot initiative process altogether. Instead of simply requiring a majority vote in the state to pass changes to state law, it would require a majority vote in every congressional district in the state. Such a measure would allow lawmakers to gerrymander the state\u2019s political lines in order to prevent voters from passing ballot initiatives. <\/p>\n

As of Wednesday morning, more than 80 percent of voters opposed the proposal by GOP lawmakers. A majority in every county in the state voted against the measure, meaning that, even by the standards that the proposal was trying to enact, it would have been rejected. <\/p>\n

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The outcome is significant because voters in Missouri have used the ballot initiative process to bypass obstructionist Republicans in the state government on issues relating to abortion, Medicaid expansion, the minimum wage, and required paid sick leave for workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese decisions were made directly by Missourians,\u201d wrote Constance Harper, vice president of Strategic Impact and Innovation at the Deaconess Foundation, and McClain Bryant Macklin, chief policy and impact officer at the Health Forward Foundation, in an op-ed for Truthout<\/em> earlier this month. \u201cThey determined whether more families could access health care, whether workers could earn higher wages, whether someone could stay home sick without losing a paycheck, and whether Missourians could exercise greater control over deeply personal decisions. These are the kinds of questions that shape the health, stability, and vitality of communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several political observers celebrated the rejection of the measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters in Kansas saw through a blatant political power grab and sent a message \u2014 our courts are not for sale,\u201d the Bluesky account for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cRepublican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames,\u201d Stephen Wolf, contributor for The Down Ballot<\/em>, opined in a social media post. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a TOTAL repudiation by Missouri voters of a core agenda of state GOP leadership,\u201d wrote Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. <\/p>\n

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GOP-sponsored measures in both states went \u201cdown in flames,\u201d observers of the elections noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nVoters Reject GOP \u201cPower Grab\u201d Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1332\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voters Reject GOP \u201cPower Grab\u201d Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GOP-sponsored measures in both states went \u201cdown in flames,\u201d observers of the elections noted.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1332\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T18:39:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Voters Reject GOP \u201cPower Grab\u201d Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T18:39:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/79b0c7cf0de391fa0c1ea5d2faa2c744-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1332\",\"name\":\"Voters Reject GOP \u201cPower Grab\u201d Referendum Measures in Kansas and Missouri - 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