Campaign Summary
In 2018, Missouri voters passed Clean Missouri, a landmark anti-corruption law to tighten contribution limits and lobbying gift laws, close the revolving door, increase transparency, and end partisan gerrymandering. But before it could even be implemented, politicians got to work on a plan to overturn the will of the voters, putting repeal of Clean Missouri on the 2020 ballot. Amendment 3, the “Dirty Missouri” amendment, makes it easier than ever for politicians to rig voting districts for political gain. Defeating Amendment 3 would have kept power in the hands of Missouri voters, not politicians.
November 2020
November 3, 2020
Amendment 3 earns 51% of the vote, narrowly passing.
The campaign promises to continue the fight for fair maps, saying that the “broad, bipartisan coalition that passed the Clean Missouri Amendment will be active and engaged in the 2021 redistricting process to ensure that voters and communities come first in new maps, not politicians.”
October 2020
September 2020
September 22, 2020
National redistricting experts come together to oppose Amendment 3. RepresentUs Executive Director Josh Silver, redistricting expert and Professor of Law at Loyola Law school Justin Levitt, and President of Common Cause Karen Hobert Flynn all condemn Amendment 3:
“Amendment 3 would make Missouri the worst state in the country when it comes to gerrymandering …Politicians and their friends should not draw district lines behind closed doors. The voices of Missourians would be stifled for the next decade if this passes. Politicians are putting their interests first with Amendment 3, but citizens have the opportunity to remind them who is in charge by voting no.” – Josh Silver, RepresentUs
August 2020
August 31, 2020
The Western District Court of Appeals orders a new ballot summary to be put on the ballot, ruling that politicians illegally tried to deceive voters about their Amendment 3 gerrymandering scheme.
August 27, 2020
Civil rights leaders file an amicus brief in support of the challenge to Amendment 3’s misleading ballot language, saying that “the summary statement … misleads voters into believing that Amendment 3 would provide people of color with additional voting-rights protections, when in reality, it would strip away the very protections added only two years ago.”
August 26, 2020
A bipartisan group of former legislators files an amicus brief in support of the challenge to Amendment 3, saying that “Voters need to know if they are being asked to change a decision they just made in the last election. They need to know if they are being asked to approve a redistricting process that would render elections less fair and less competitive.”
August 17, 2020
A Missouri judge rules that Amendment 3’s ballot summary is “misleading, unfair, and insufficient.”
August 7, 2020
A circuit court judge hears arguments in the challenge to Amendment 3’s misleading ballot summary. Almost immediately, the politician-backed opposition group files an appeal.
July 2020
July 26, 2020
100 days before election day, the Clean Missouri campaign unveils an overwhelming bipartisan coalition in opposition to Amendment 3. The coalition includes 100 elected and civic leaders, 100 faith leaders, and 100 organizations.
June 2020
May, 2020
May 18, 2020
Missouri citizens file a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court to block the dishonest ballot language crafted by Missouri politicians to mislead voters about the amendment.
The ballot language claims that the amendment would ban lobbyist gifts. In reality, Measure 3 only changes gift limits by $5. The summary claims to create an independent redistricting commission. In reality, Measure 3 removes independent oversight and puts redistricting in the hands of politicians and political parties.
May 15, 2020
The Missouri House of Representatives passes SJR38, referring the repeal of the Clean Missouri law to the ballot.
May 4, 2020
Former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth (R), opposes the attempt to repeal Clean Missouri:
“Now, however, the people’s amendment is under attack. In the midst of the current public health crisis, our state Legislature is seeking to place a new constitutional amendment on an upcoming ballot. It would overturn voter-approved redistricting reforms before they could ever take effect. Instead, it would substitute a redistricting scheme more extreme than Missouri has ever seen. Indeed, if the proposed constitutional amendment is fully enacted, Missouri’s legislative maps could be more gerrymandered than any in the country.”
February 2020
February 12, 2020
“Sadly, some politicians and lobbyists in Jefferson City do not want fair district maps and believe that only certain people should count. Resolutions have been fast-tracked in both chambers of our state legislature to replace Amendment 1’s reforms with a less transparent process that would allow extreme partisan gerrymandering and would weaken the strong protections for voters of color that are in our constitution now.”
February 10, 2020
The Missouri Senate passes SJR38.
January, 2020
2018
2016
November 23, 2016
Clean Missouri files Amendment 1 with the Secretary of State.