What Is Amendment 3?
If you have questions on Amendment 3, you’re not alone. Even the Missouri Senate can’t agree on the amendment’s exact implications. The law is vague and complex, and the political rhetoric surrounding it tends to be controversial or misleading. But there’s one thing we do know: the outcome of the Amendment 3 vote matters. The ballot measure concerns Missouri’s redistricting practices, which directly impact different communities’ political representation. So, what should you know going into the election?
Why is Amendment 3 on the ballot?
Most basically, Amendment 3 would repeal and modify certain sections of the Clean Missouri amendment, which voters passed in 2018. Amendment 3 was introduced by Republicans in the Missouri Senate who took issue with some of the changes that Clean Missouri made to the state’s constitution and particularly, to the state’s redistricting procedure.
Would Amendment 3 promote campaign finance reform?
If you read the explanation on your ballot, you’ll see (front and center) that the measure would ban lobbyists from giving gifts to legislators and reduce the limits on campaign contributions. But you’d have to look at the amendment much more closely to see that neither of these changes would be meaningful. Gifts from lobbyists already have a five-dollar cap, and the amendment would only lower campaign contributions from $2,500 to $2,400. The ballot language is somewhat misleading; this amendment is not about, and would not meaningfully alter, campaign finance law in Missouri.
Would Amendment 3 affect how Missouri draws district lines?
To answer briefly, yes. Right now, the Missouri Constitution prioritizes “fairness and competitiveness,” which basically means that it tries to create districts that accurately represent the state’s partisan breakdown. Some people fear that this calculus is too political or that it gives one state auditor too much control over the redistricting process. Amendment 3 would de-emphasize fairness and competitiveness in the drawing of districts, instead promoting compactness and community cohesion. It would also change who draws district lines, replacing the auditor-appointed, senate-approved demographer with two bipartisan committees. Both advocates and opponents of Amendment 3 suggest that the other side’s practices would facilitate gerrymandering. While these procedural changes could have tremendous impacts, when it comes to how Amendment 3 alters the redistricting process, the most pressing issues actually arise elsewhere.
Would it leave out children and immigrants when making redistricting calculations?
Many Missourians are worried that the amendment would exclude children and immigrants when calculating different communities’ populations—and these population counts are what determine an area’s number of political representatives. According to The Brennan Center for Justice, leaving out children and immigrants would systematically underrepresent communities of color. (Given the misleading ballot language and the disparate impact of this measure, there might be reason to worry that this amendment has deeply racist ulterior motives. And even if it doesn’t, it would still disadvantage minority communities.)
Activists have warned voters that the measure would exclude and marginalize already underrepresented communities, while a few of the bill’s sponsors have assured people that the state would still count everyone. (There’s reason to believe both sides. On the one hand, some of the senators who supported the bill have openly declared that they want Amendment 3 to exclude immigrants and children. The measure’s language—“[districts] shall be drawn on the basis of one person, one vote”—would also leave more room for these exclusions. Moreover, Amendment 3 would repeal a clause in Clean Missouri that promises not to abridge the rights of language minorities. At the same time, the amendment’s language certainly doesn’t compel these exclusions, and it’s not clear that such a practice would even be constitutional under federal law.) In other words, the real answer to this question is maybe. Amendment 3 might leave out children and immigrants. But maybe and yes mean the same thing here; if you want to make sure that this doesn’t happen in Missouri, vote no on Amendment 3.