In the upcoming November 2024 elections, Missourians will vote on a “scavenger measure” that will apparently prohibit noncitizens from voting. It’s fair to be confused: this has been illegal for over a century.
Behind this complicated language is a more damaging agenda: the erosion of local control and the power of voters to decide electoral processes.
Once again, the Missouri legislature is using “election candy”: placing a shiny object on the first line of the ballot and burying its real agenda in fine print. Obscuring the true meaning of an amendment is lying – it is taking away your right to vote for what you really want. Reading the fine print is important, but you shouldn’t need a law degree to understand what your ballot actually says. There is a reason why many people ignore the fine print in their daily lives and simply click “Accept Terms and Conditions”. We assume that nothing in the fine print deliberately attempts to take away our rights, but that is not the case with this ballot measure.
The measure prohibits voters and local governments from deciding which voting system they want to use. Specifically, it REQUIRES that counties use a chosen voting system, in which whoever gets the most votes wins – even if it’s just 35%, which is what Eric Greitens received when he “won” the 2016 Republican Party primary for governor.
The legislature’s specious move would stifle more accurate voting systems such as “pick whatever you want,” also known as “approval voting” — a system that allows voters to choose multiple candidates on the ballot, reflecting the true level of support. public to each candidate.
Approval voting is how we already make decisions as groups in our personal lives. When you want to decide what time to watch a movie with friends, you can say you’re free at 6pm, 7pm, or 9pm, not just one time of day. Selecting all the options that work for you helps people cooperate rather than see a movie at 9pm because a small minority of 37% selected it, while 63% were split between 6pm and 7pm.
Approval voting is not just a theoretical concept; it’s a proven method used by Midwestern cities and organizations like the American Mathematical Society and the American Statistical Association for their elections. Helps you find consensus as a group: When you can select all the candidates you approve of, more votes go to unifying, broadly accountable leaders.
But the “specious measure” threatens to reverse this accountability, deceiving voters.
As you prepare to vote, recognize this measure for what it is: an attack on local control and voters’ power to hold leaders accountable. The “consent of the governed” requires a system that reflects the will of the people. Don’t let deceptive measures harm your voice and keep in mind that this “deceptive measure” is an attempt to take away your freedom.
Benjamin D. Singer is CEO of Show Me Integrity, a political reform organization in Missouri that advocates for more effective, ethical government. Find out more at showmeintegrity.org.
This article originally appeared in the Springfield News-Leader: Misleading ballot measure in Missouri elections erodes local control
