(The Center Square) – Lawsuits are challenging whether two initiatives should be on the Missouri ballot in November after they were certified by Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.
Legal challenges were filed to stop Amendment 2, which would allow sports wagering in the state, and Amendment 3, which would amend the state constitution to remove Missouri’s ban on abortion.
The lawsuit to stop the sports wagering item, filed by political consultants Jacqueline Wood and Blake Lawrence, argue Ashcroft didn’t use the proper method for validating signatures to get the item on the ballot. Initiative petitions must have signatures from 8% of legal voters in six of the eight congressional districts in the state.
“… Secretary Ashcroft’s method of calculating the number of signatures to place the Sports Wagering Petition on the current ballot was incorrect in that it failed to use the vote in the current boundaries of the First Congressional District” as stated in Missouri law, according to the 16-page complaint.
Bill DeWitt III, president of Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals, said proper legal methods were used to get sports betting on the ballot.
“The recently filed lawsuit to remove Amendment 2 from the upcoming election is completely without merit,” DeWitt said in a statement to KTVI. “Missourians came out in force to sign the ballot initiative petition that will be on the ballot in November, which was verified and certified by the Secretary of State’s office.”
Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, Peggy Forest, the president and chief executive officer of Our Lady’s Inn, and Kathy Forck filed a suit to remove Amendment 3. The 36-page complaint argues the initiative petition didn’t include the full text of the measure and it violated the single-subject rule in the Missouri Constitution.
“… Missourians have a legal right to an electoral process that follows the law, and the process forcing Amendment 3 on Missouri has not done so,” Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “… To be clear: under our initiative petition process, Missourians are free to tie their hands in this way, but the Constitution and statutes require that they know that they are doing so.”
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the organization leading effort to pass Amendment 3, expected lawsuits as it overcame several before getting approval to collect signatures.
“… another baseless and desperate attempt from politicians to silence Missouri voters and prevent them from being heard,” Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We will not let that happen.”