Voters in Missouri and Kansas rejected all three constitutional amendments that Republican legislatures placed on Tuesday's primary ballot.
Missouri Amendment 4 (80-20%): Would have required citizen-led ballot initiatives to win a majority in every congressional district, not just statewide. GOP lawmakers gerrymandered those districts heavily, including erasing a Democratic seat earlier this year. The effect: conservatives would get veto power over broadly popular progressive amendments. Voters saw it for what it was.
Missouri Amendment 5 (83-17%): Would have phased out the state income tax and expanded sales taxes to replace the lost revenue. The third-largest defeat margin in state history.
Kansas Amendment 1 (61-39%): Would have abolished the state's merit-based Supreme Court nominating commission and switched to direct judicial elections. Republicans placed it on the August primary ballot (lower turnout, more GOP-leaning) hoping to eventually install anti-abortion justices. Same playbook they tried and lost in 2022 when voters upheld abortion rights 60-40.
The thread connecting all three: Republican supermajorities tried to change the rules after voters kept bypassing them on Medicaid expansion, minimum wage, abortion rights, marijuana legalization, and paid sick leave. Voters said no, decisively.
Sources:
news.ballotpedia.org/2026/08/0…
cnn.com/2026/08/05/politics/mi…
nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elec…
Missouri voters block GOP-led effort to raise bar to pass constitutional amendments
The push came after progressives in the solidly Republican state found success with ballot measures related to abortion, health care and the minimum wage.Jane C. Timm (NBC News)
