1). “Abortion Had a *Great* Night”, Aug 5, 2026, Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day, at < https://jessica.substack.com/
2). “Kansas voters reject another attempt to reshape the state’s abortion landscape: Reproductive rights supporters framed the ballot measure to elect state justices as an attempt to weaken abortion rights.”, Aug 4, 2026, Shefali Luthra, (Reproductive Health Reporter), The 19th, at < https://19thnews.org/2026/08/
3). “Kansas judge says decision to strike abortion restrictions not ‘even a close call’: The controversial case was made even more so by the timing of the judge’s decision”, Aug 4, 2026, Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector, at < https://kansasreflector.com/
4). “Missouri voters reject income tax phaseout, initiative petition changes”, Aug 4, 2026, Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent, at < https://missouriindependent.
~~ recommended by desmond ~~
Introduction: The Elections that took place on August 4th garnered some important wins for people, in general, who are opposed to the billionaire oligarch, thief-led, fascist / authoritarian takeover of much of U.S. Civil Society. The Indefatigable Jessica Vaalenti wrote and posted an excellent article in Item 1)., “Abortion Had a ….”, in which she reviewed events that have taken place in the ongoing struggle for Reproductive Healthcare Rights and Abortion Access over the past few days. The defeats of Amendment 4 in Missouri (by a margin of 80% to 20%), and the Ballot Initiative in Kansas (by a margin of 63% to 37%) were key wins for progressive forces in the U.S. in general and the people of Kansas and Missouri in particular. The initiative in Kansas proposed to change over from the current appointment process to direct election of State Supreme Court Justices, Of course TCS posted an excellent background article about the situation in Kansas on Aug 2nd, “Kansas Amendment Battle Highlights Billionaires’ Efforts to Capture State Courts", at < https://ongoingclassstruggle.
The Kansas Judicial Election gambit was defeated despite the huge amount of resources invested in Kansas by such billionaire Oligarchical reactionaries as Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, and the efforts of fascist Attorney General of Kansas Kris Kobach; the Kansas Ballot Proposal was decisively defeated by a margin of 63% to 37%. Item 2)., “Kansas voters reject ….”, looks at some of the issues and discusses the importance of this electoral victory. The same oligarchs tried to force this through. They are the same ones who engineered the Fascist takeover of the U.S. Supreme Court by reactionaries and made possible the Dobbs decision, and whose force-pregnancy / force-birth policies, and that enabled the emergence of the by far largest bloc of repression and torture / murder operations against women of reproductive age, in the developed world. In Item 3)., “Kansas judge says decision to ….”, the article from the Kansas Reflector discusses an important ruling by a state district Judge, issued on Election day the article noted that:
“A Kansas judge took a sledgehammer to a slate of abortion restrictions dating back to 1997, ruling the state came up short in arguing the Kansas Legislature should be able to impose waiting periods, mandate abortion reversal disclosures and require doctors to obtain patients’ reasons for seeking an abortion.
(emphasis added) - “Christopher Jayaram’s 260-page decision, written while he was still serving as a Johnson County District Court judge, came at a canny moment. He was sworn in as a Kansas Supreme Court justice hours after issuing the opinion Monday and voters across the state were set to answer a ballot question Tuesday that could change the way Supreme Court justices are selected.
“The resolution in the abortion restriction case followed three years of litigation. Jayaram took nine months to author his decision after a two-part, seven-day bench trial wrapped up in October in Johnson County. He ruled the state’s abortion restrictions violated Kansans’ right to bodily autonomy and 'infringe upon a woman’s fundamental rights.' ”
Meanwhile, in Missouri the voters rejected by an overwhelming 80% to 20% margin, the attempt by Missouri's State Legislature Republicans to close off the State Constitutional Amendment process by which the population of Missouri has consistently passed progressive policies the State Legislature, with its far-right dominance, has never ever passed. This is discussed in Item 4)., “Missouri voters reject ….”. The Rethugs wanted to ensure that they would end the unwanted liberal impulses of the populace. Noting that:
“One measure of the magnitude of the “no” vote is that it created a mirror image of the majority requirement Amendment 4 would have imposed on constitutional amendments proposed by initiative.
“Amendment 4 would have required amendments to achieve a majority in every congressional district in order to pass. All eight of Missouri’s congressional districts opposed both Amendment 4 and Amendment 5.”
Below I am posting a map of the general situation for abortion access across the Globe and the huge area of Abortion Access denial in the South and some other states of the U.S. This is an amended map (modified from previous maps I have posted here earlier) with Missouri moved out of the Dark Ages Red State bloc.
Kansas & Missouri Reject GOP
THE QUICK & DIRTY
Kansas Had Two Abortion Wins Yesterday: voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have made it easier for the GOP to ban abortion, and a judge blocked a bevy of restrictions on abortion 🙌
Massachusetts Gov. Says She’ll Sign Law Expanding Access: Gov. Maura Healey will sign legislation to legalize abortion throughout pregnancy 🎉
In the States: South Dakota’s Gov and AG compare websites that share abortion information to meth dealers; California is close to requiring community colleges to carry abortion pills; Michigan clinics are struggling; Illinois is seeing more abortion patients with high risk pregnancies
Anti-Abortion Campus Attacks: the conservative media rag targeting colleges for saying anything remotely pro-choice
Missouri Voters Reject Attacks on Direct Democracy: Republicans’ latest attack on abortion and democracy lost 80% to 20% 😈
In the Nation: the latest on Todd Blanche and his promise to stop the shipping of abortion pills & make the FACE Act useless
Read My Tabs:WaPo on cops using Flock to stalk their exes, Ms. on the next generation of abortion providers, and Media Matters on how antis are weaponizing ‘coercion’
Coming Soon: Tomorrow, everything you need to know about a North Carolina teenager arrested for taking abortion medication
🚩: conservative or religious news outlet, click with caution
Kansas Had Two Abortion Wins Yesterday
Congratulations, Kansas! Last night, voters overwhelmingly rejected a Republican ballot measure that would change how state Supreme Court justices are seated. But as the GOP made very clear, this wasn’t really about judges: it was about finding a way to ban abortion against voters’ wishes.
Remember, Kansas voters rejected an anti-abortion amendment back in 2022—one of the first pro-choice ballot measure wins after Roe was overturned. Since then, the Kansas GOP has been testing out ways to ban abortion, even though voters have made it very, very clear that’s not what they want.
All of which is to say: I’m thrilled for the people of Kansas, and just as thrilled that Republicans got exactly what they deserved. But wait—we’re not done yet!
Also yesterday, a judge struck down a slate of abortion restrictions, saying the decision wasn’t “even a close call.” The Kansas Reflector has the full story, but here’s the short version: Christopher Jayaram, who was sworn in as a judge just hours before issuing his decision, ruled that the restrictions “infringe upon a woman’s fundamental rights.”
Emily Wales, president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement that the ruling “reaffirms what Kansans have made clear time and again: the Kansas Constitution protects the fundamental right to make personal decisions about pregnancy and abortion without political interference.”
Some of the restrictions struck down include a 24-hour waiting period, a requirement that physicians listen to a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortion, and—my personal ‘favorite’—a mandate that doctors ask women why they’re getting an abortion.
That last requirement is part of a broader push around “abortion reporting”: conservatives want to collect all sorts of unnecessary data from abortion patients under the guise of protecting women’s health. In truth, the goal is to create a chilling effect where patients don’t seek out care—because they know their personal information is being reported to the state.
So I couldn’t be happier for everyone in Kansas; two big wins in one day!
Massachusetts Gov. Says She’ll Sign Law Expanding Access
Not that we had any doubts, but Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey just confirmed that she’ll be signing a bill legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy.
I’ve been following this one closely: once Healey signs, Massachusetts will join a handful of other states that allow abortion after 24 weeks. Right now, abortion is only available later in pregnancy if someone’s life or health is at risk or their pregnancy has a grave abnormality. Under this law, abortion will be available on a doctor’s recommendation. In an op-ed this week, bill sponsor Rep. Christine Barber notes that the legislation “replaces a narrow checklist of exceptions with a single standard: a physician’s professional judgment.”
“I filed this bill for the women still being denied care every year. The ones forced to travel a thousand miles while pregnant, far from the doctors who know them and the people who love them, paying costs most families cannot bear. I filed it for the patients who cannot travel at all.”
Gov. Healey echoed those concerns when a reporter from WBSM asked her about the legislation. She says the law will ensure “women don’t have to travel out of state for needed medical care.”
I’m so glad for the people of Massachusetts, and truly grateful to the advocates and legislators who worked so hard to make this happen.
In the States: South Dakota, California, Michigan, Illinois & More
South Dakota’s Republican leaders are itching to arrest someone for “advertising” abortion pills. As you likely know, the state passed a ban on abortion advertising that is so broad, it could criminalize even sharing information about abortion. (Which, of course, is very much the point.)
Our friends at Mayday Health sued, and last month a federal judge blocked enforcement of the law while its being battled out in court. But now, Gov. Larry Rhoden and Attorney General Marty Jackley are appealing that decision, South Dakota Searchlight reports. That’s how eager they are to get the ball rolling on criminalizing speech.
But here’s my favorite part. In their filing, the Republican leaders compared websites that share information about abortion pills to an imaginary website that facilities the sales of meth:
“The Court has legalized the solicitation and aiding and abetting of an illegal drug and erroneously broadened the scope of the term advertising,…[The ruling] could just as easily protect the solicitation and aiding and abetting of online methamphetamine sales by groups who claim to simply ‘provide information’ about methamphetamine and offer consumers the ‘choice’ to commit an illegal act.”
Sorry, what? Do Rhoden and Jackley think that women are addicted to abortion pills? Why are these men so weird?
California is on the verge of requiring community colleges to make abortion pills available on campus. Abortion, Every Day has been tracking this bill for a while now: four-year colleges already mandate the medication be made available to students under AB 2540, that requirement would expand to community colleges, too.
The legislation would also mandate that colleges let students know the medication is available—schools need to put that info on the student health center website, and have informational pamphlets. Fingers crossed that the bill advances as expected!
Extra credit:California legislators have been trying to enact restrictions on Flock cameras in the state—a mounting privacy concern, especially in a post-Dobbs world. (Remember when Texas cops searched 83,000 cameras using Flock to find an abortion patient? I do!)
Michigan is losing three of its Planned Parenthood clinics in Lansing, Livonia, and Warren. There have been a growing number of Planned Parenthood closures over the last year, thanks to Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ defunding provision. Even now that the funding is restored, there are clinics that will simply never recover.
Bridge Michiganhas an interesting (if a bit heart-breaking) piece about why brick-and-mortar clinics are struggling to stay open in the state—and why Michigan hasn’t become the go-to safe haven state advocates expected.
Essentially, while telemedicine abortion has made it much easier for patients to get care at home, clinics’ budgets have taken a hit as a result. Reporter Robin Erb writes,
“Patients that once walked through their doors for a surgical abortion or to meet with a doctor before taking pills for a medical abortion are going online instead to out-of-state and even international abortion pill providers.”
And while more than 140,000 people traveled for abortion care in 2025, less than 2,000 of those patients showed up in Michigan. That’s in part for genuinely terrific reasons—like the increased access of telehealth abortion and their neighboring state Ohio codifying abortion rights. It’s also because nearby Illinois has poured a whole lot of money and energy into becoming an abortion access hub. (As a result, almost 1 in 4 people who travel out of state for care go to Illinois—including nearly 200 from Michigan.)
The whole piece is worth a read to understand how clinics on the ground in Michigan are feeling—though I was bummed to see some folks saying things that could be weaponized by the anti-abortion movement. A few clinic operators said that getting pills online is dangerous for those with ectopic pregnancies—a common conservative talking point. Another raised the fact that teens can dodge the state’s parental consent law by lying about their age online—another message from the anti-abortion playbook.
I feel for the providers in Michigan who are struggling. I imagine it must feel complicated to have your business take a financial hit because access has increased. Consider this another reminder to support your local clinics.
Finally, let’s dig more into Illinois, where hospitals have been seeing an increase in abortion patients with high-risk pregnancies. Thankfully, that surge has become more manageable thanks to a fantastic program launched in 2023: the Complex Abortion Regional Line for Access, or CARLA.
CARLA allows healthcare providers with high-risk patients to call a hotline, where the Chicago-based team can help them find appointments at one of four hospitals. As The New York Times reported a few years ago, the providers at CARLA conduct a full medical intake, track down medical records and insurance information, and can help connect patients who need financial assistance with the Chicago Abortion Fund.
“We are here to help with the medical and logistical side of things, but we also navigate a lot of the emotional side,” nurse Caroline Nyheim said at the time.
This week, the Chicago Sun-Times checked in on the program, and it’s so wonderful to see that they’re still going strong. We need them!
Quick hits:
Alabama Republicans adopted a resolution urging acting AG Todd Blanche to take action on the mailing of abortion pills;
Arkansas gave $1.7 m to over three dozen crisis pregnancy centers in the past year (🚩);
And the Nashville Scene has more on the Tennessee anti-abortion extremist awarded more than a million dollars by the federal government.
🎓Anti-Abortion Campus Attacks 🎓
The right-wing media machine loves nothing more than going after college campuses—especially any school that dares to do anything remotely pro-choice.
The worst offender is Campus Reform. The conservative outlet stalks colleges looking for “controversial” programs, professors, or events—then targets them with harassment campaigns. This week alone, they ran hit pieces on three schools over abortion.
Naturally, whatever Campus Reform finds objectionable, I find commendable. So I wanted to offer a bit of appreciation to three schools today:
Wesleyan University, which offers a work-study position with the school’s abortion doula project—providing “free and compassionate support for people making the decision to terminate their pregnancies.”
The University of Maryland, where clinicians can get abortion training with a small stipend through the school’s Reproductive Health Fellowship.
And UCSF’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, which Campus Reform singled out for—brace yourself—having a webpage that lists reproductive health training and research programs.
The fact that any of this is considered newsworthy is astounding. The goal here, clearly, is to create a chilling effect. If schools believe that a webpage, work-study listing, or mere mention of abortion will get them harassed, they’ll think twice before offering it again.
Missouri Voters Reject Attacks on Direct Democracy
I love all of this good election night news! Voters in Missouri said absolutely-the-fuck-not to a Republican-led ballot measure that would have made it near-impossible for citizens to change the state constitution
I’ve been telling you about Amendment 4 for a while now, but here’s the tl;dr: instead of winning a simple majority, citizen-led initiatives would have needed to win majorities in every single one of the state’s congressional districts. The idea was to give small rural communities veto power over measures that the vast majority of voters want.
As the Kansas City Star put it recently: “If approved, the measure would make it virtually impossible for citizens to collect signatures and amend the Missouri Constitution.”
And here’s the kicker: that higher threshold would only apply to citizen-led campaigns. Amendments from state legislators would face no such requirement.
We all know what this was really about: abortion. Republicans are still furious that Missouri voters codified abortion rights in 2024, and they’ve been looking for any backdoor way to claw their ban back—regardless of what Missourians actually want.
Voters weren’t having it. Guess how badly the GOP lost. The measure was rejected 80% to 20%.
In the Nation
If you missed my piece this morning about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s phone call with faith leaders, here’s the short version: he didn’t promise a national abortion ban, but did vow to stop the shipping of abortion pills. He also said that the administration is putting policies in place so “prosecutors will no longer be able to use the FACE Act” to go after clinic attackers—even after Trump leaves the White House.
Naturally, the anti-abortion movement is swooning. Americans United for Life says that Blanche “has shown himself to be a sincere advocate for human life and a faithful servant of President Trump’s pro-life agenda.”
Over at Talking Points Memo, reporter Nicole LaFond notes that these anti-abortion promises may have been a way to win over Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who hadn’t committed to moving his nomination out of committee…until yesterday. “[I]t’s possible these promises to anti-abortion activists were made as part of some sort of last-ditch attempt to appease Cornyn and Tillis,” she writes.
Read my full piece below, or listen to me rant on Instagram.
Read My Tabs
Over at The Washington Post, we learn about how “rogue” police officers are using Flock to stalk their girlfriends, wives, and exes. Because of course they are. One line in the piece made my stomach turn:
“In Wisconsin, a police officer allegedly used Flock to check whether his ex-girlfriend had gone to an abortion clinic, according to a police affidavit for a case set for trial this month.”
You can be sure I’ll be looking into that one.
Don’t miss the brilliant Latona Giwa in Ms. magazine, who asks, “Who Will Train the Next Generation of Abortion Providers?” Giwa—a nurse, doula, and executive director of Repro TLC—actually chatted with me a bit about this very question in a livestream last year, if you’d like to revisit the conversation.
Finally, Media Matters wrote about how Republicans are weaponizing language about reproductive “coercion” in order to ban abortion pills—and gave Kylie a nice shout out. 😊
Let me know what you’re reading in the comments!
Coming Soon
I’m sorry to tell you that a North Carolina teenager has been arrested and criminally charged after taking abortion medication, which resulted in premature labor at 31 weeks into her pregnancy. The young woman, who AED will not name, is facing multiple charges, including child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon (meaning the abortion pills, apparently). The teen’s boyfriend has also been charged with negligent child abuse.
Kylie will have the full story for you tomorrow morning—so keep an eye on your inbox.
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Kansas voters reject another attempt to reshape the state’s abortion landscape
Published
2026-08-04 20:15
8:15
August 4, 2026
pm
America/Chicago
Kansas voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made members of the state’s Supreme Court electable by popular vote — a seemingly technical issue that had become a proxy battle for the future of abortion rights in the state, Decision Desk HQ projects.
Conservatives in the state’s Republican-led legislature put forth the proposal in an effort to remake Kansas’ high court, which in 2019 issued a pivotal decision holding that the state constitution guaranteed the right to an abortion. Three years later, in 2022, Kansas voters rejected a measure that would have undone the court’s decision — securing the Sunflower State’s status as a destination for people seeking abortion from neighboring states such as Texas and Oklahoma, which have both banned the procedure.
State Attorney General Kris Kobach — then a candidate for the position — suggested in 2022 that abortion opponents should pivot to change the makeup of the state Supreme Court. A move to elect justices, he said, could enable lawmakers to “slowly and quietly” develop an anti-abortion judiciary that might ultimately overturn Kansas’ abortion rights protections.
The measure’s failure means that members of the Kansas court will continue to be appointed through a process in which the governor selects people from a list curated by a nine-member commission. The commission includes lawyers across the state who are elected by other Kansas attorneys, as well as non-lawyers selected by the governor.
Kansas Republicans argued the measure would impose needed transparency and accountability into the selection of court members. The measure’s opponents also argued that changing the court’s selection mechanism would empower billionaire donors to select justices, a point hammered in a TV ad from a progressive coalition called Kansas United for Impartial Groups.
Other states have indicated the potency of abortion in state court elections, and the massive levels of spending that can be funnelled in when voters directly elect members of their high courts.
In Wisconsin, where Supreme Court members are elected by popular vote, judicial elections in 2023 and 2025 — both races where liberal candidates emphasized their support of reproductive rights — shattered spending records, indicating “an era of rapidly intensifying state judicial politics,” wrote Douglas Keith, a deputy director at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan civil rights group.
Opponents of the measure — including the state’s chapter of the ACLU and Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, the healthcare provider’s advocacy arm — also framed the race as a contest about reproductive rights and an effort to relitigate the 2022 election.
“Kansas is surrounded by states with abortion bans. We continue to see people coming from out of state for care here,” said Emily Wales, who heads Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “Abortion rights are clearly the focus of the legislature.”
In 2024, the most recent year for which state data is available, about three-quarters of all abortions in Kansas — around 15,000 out of just over 20,000 — were for people from other states, namely Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Since then, Missouri has passed ballot measures restoring state abortion rights. In Texas and Oklahoma, abortion remains almost entirely outlawed.
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Kansas judge says decision to strike abortion restrictions not ‘even a close call’ • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A Kansas judge took a sledgehammer to a slate of abortion restrictions dating back to 1997, ruling the state came up short in arguing the Kansas Legislature should be able to impose waiting periods, mandate abortion reversal disclosures and require doctors to obtain patients’ reasons for seeking an abortion.
Christopher Jayaram’s 260-page decision, written while he was still serving as a Johnson County District Court judge, came at a canny moment. He was sworn in as a Kansas Supreme Court justice hours after issuing the opinion Monday and voters across the state were set to answer a ballot question Tuesday that could change the way Supreme Court justices are selected.
The resolution in the abortion restriction case followed three years of litigation. Jayaram took nine months to author his decision after a two-part, seven-day bench trial wrapped up in October in Johnson County. He ruled the state’s abortion restrictions violated Kansans’ right to bodily autonomy and “infringe upon a woman’s fundamental rights.”
It’s an affirmation of the right to an abortion in Kansas following a 2022 vote in which voters rejected a constitutional amendment that could’ve led to further restrictions and a 2024 state Supreme Court decision that cemented Kansans’ right to bodily autonomy.
Kansas abortion providers and clinics sued the state in June 2023, and Jayaram temporarily blocked restrictions that were passed by the Legislature over the course of more than two decades.
Among the laws Jayaram struck down by making his injunction permanent were requirements for abortion providers to give government-scripted information to patients; supply patient paperwork in specific fonts, sizes and colors; tell patients at least five times that medication abortions can be reversed, which isn’t regarded by scientists and medical organizations as safe; and obtain reasons from patients for their decision to seek an abortion.
“Today’s ruling allows me to do my job the way I was trained to and focus on what’s most important: my patients,” said Traci Lynn Nauser, an OB-GYN in Kansas and lead plaintiff in the case. “I have been caring for patients for nearly 30 years, but these laws have interfered with my ability to provide high-quality, evidence-based health care. I have been forced to lie to my patients and delay, or even deny, people care for no medical reason. This is not how health care should work.”
Attorneys representing the state had the obligation of meeting the strict scrutiny standard to justify retention of abortion mandates, but Jayaram said in the decision the state “simply failed to clear that high bar.”
It wasn’t “even a close call,” he wrote.
“Invariably, some will likely disagree or take issue with the court’s ultimate conclusions and findings, whether based upon specific moral, ethical or spiritual concerns,” Jayaram wrote.
However, he said those considerations are separate from the court’s role in evaluating the state’s potential constitutional encroachments imposed under the guise of authority.
“Those constitutional guarantees include the people’s rights to make their own decisions regarding their bodies, health, family formation and family life-decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy — all of which are necessary corollaries to the right of bodily autonomy,” he said.
Brittany Jones, president of anti-abortion organization Kansas Family Voice, slammed Jayaram’s decision and the timing of its publication, characterizing both as controversial.
“All of these things simply give women information, give them more time and make sure we know why women are seeking abortions so that we can actually help them,” Jones said in a social media post Tuesday.
Jayaram was sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court at a private ceremony. He was Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s pick to replace retired Chief Justice Marla Luckert. A nominating commission interviewed applicants and recommended three finalists for the vacancy. The governor made the final selection.
Jones alerted her organization’s social media followers to Jayaram’s decision in the abortion case.
“If you think the Supreme Court is not political in Kansas, then wait ’til you hear what just happened,” Jones said.
Jayaram released the decision at 4:50 p.m. Monday, Jones said, which appears on the decision’s filing stamp. The Supreme Court announced Jayaram’s swearing in at 6:55 p.m. Monday. Because of the proximity to a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, Jones encouraged viewers to vote “yes” in favor of the proposed constitutional amendment that would require the statewide election of justices to the state Supreme Court.
“Kansans should be outraged with the political machinations of their current Supreme Court,” Jones told Kansas Reflector.
She accused Jayaram of not wanting Kansans to know about his decision before voting in Tuesday’s primary.
Proponents and opponents of the amendment have acknowledged abortion as central to the placement of the question on Aug. 4 ballots. Republicans who support the question’s passage have said the Supreme Court erred in its rulings to affirm abortion as a fundamental right under the Kansas Constitution. Democrats have advocated for rejection of the ballot question, arguing the court has protected abortion rights and maintaining a merit-based appointment system for justices continues that protection.
Alice Wang, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who represented plaintiffs in the case, said the decision is a reflection of the will of Kansans.
“Restrictions like these only exist to push abortion care out of reach. And as we’ve seen across the country, people are dying because of delays in accessing essential health care,” she said. “Still, politicians have repeatedly ignored this reality and their voters as they continue to push for harmful laws”
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Missouri voters reject income tax phaseout, initiative petition changes • Missouri Independent
Missouri voters rejected major Republican priorities on Tuesday as proposals to eliminate the income tax and change the way initiative petition majorities are counted lost by large margins across the state.
Amendment 4 lost 80% to 20%, while Amendment 5 fared worse, losing 83% to 16%.
“Amendments 4 and 5 have been buried so deep in citizen rejection, they should never come back,” said Scott Charton, spokesman for the two Missouri Realtor-funded opposition groups, Missourians for Fair Governance and Missourians for Fair Taxation.
One measure of the magnitude of the “no” vote is that it created a mirror image of the majority requirement Amendment 4 would have imposed on constitutional amendments proposed by initiative.
Amendment 4 would have required amendments to achieve a majority in every congressional district in order to pass. All eight of Missouri’s congressional districts opposed both Amendment 4 and Amendment 5.
Speaking at a gathering with other organizations that worked against the two amendments, Charton said the outcome validated the need for a strong initiative process and taxpayer rights.
“Citizen-led, voter-approved constitutional taxpayer protections have been strongly defended and reaffirmed by the people of Missouri, and our fellow Missourians sent a powerful message to Jefferson City,” Charton said. “The people are in charge. The majority rules, and every citizen’s vote counts equally.”
Two other statewide ballot questions, Amendment 1 and Amendment 2, were passing easily, each receiving in excess of 75% of the vote.
Amendment 1 extends the 0.1% sales tax that supports state parks and soil and water conservation. Amendment 2 will require that all county tax assessors be elected officials and affects only Jackson County.
Gov. Mike Kehoe, while projecting optimism about the chances for both amendments after voting Tuesday morning, said defeat was not the end, especially for the project to eliminate the income tax embodied in Amendment 5.
“I’m going to always look for ways to make the burden of government less on Missouri families and let them keep more of their own money,” Kehoe said.
After the early tallies made it clear Amendment 5 would be soundly defeated, Kehoe used social media to say that he would continue to seek changes in the state’s tax structure.
“Throughout this conversation on eliminating the state income tax, we made the case that Missouri should think boldly about its future, challenge the status quo, and pursue policies that make our state more competitive,” he said. “While Amendment 5 did not earn the support it needed, I believe our work is far from over.”
Any discussion of tax changes needs input from across the political spectrum, said people attending an election-night party in Jefferson City at the Missouri Association of Realtors office. The Realtors spearheaded the coalitions that defeated the two amendments,
“This sends a message to the legislature that this is not what Missouri wants,” said Matthew Becker of O’Fallon, treasurer-elect of the Realtors association. “Missouri wants to keep the initiative petition process the way it is. Missouri wants to keep the income tax the way it is until there’s a plan in place that phases that out. out. And I think that’s what they were missing with Amendment 5.”
The coalition against Amendment 5 was especially broad, with business groups either staying on the sidelines or opposing it. Educator and groups from the left organized under the name No Everything Tax against Amendment 5 and Protect Majority Rule Missouri against Amendment 4.
Missourians don’t like the way Amendment 5 was tilted toward making wage earners pay more, said Mark Jones of the Missouri National Education Association.
“Fundamentally, Missourians rejected the idea that they should pay for tax breaks for billionaires and then not be able to change to correct the legislature, not only on this issue but forever,” he said.
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