SJR78 proposes to amend the Missouri Constitution to provide a U.S. citizenship voting requirement; specifies that all elections shall be by “paper ballot” or “mechanical methods prescribed by law;” and restricts ranked-choice voting (RCV) to only nonpartisan municipal elections in cities that had a previous ordinance in effect.

The House passed SJR78 on May 17, 2024, by a vote of 97 to 43. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the American people—who, owing true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, and are not subject to any foreign power—alone retain the “right of Representation in the Legislature.” In addition, the complicated multiple-round method of RCV weakens election integrity by allowing a candidate to potentially win without genuine support from a plurality of voters, causing voter disenfranchisement and potentially denying voters the ability to select the one and only candidate of their choice. Missouri should exercise its authority under Article I, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the 14th and 26th Amendments, to implement free, fair, and secure elections, thereby ensuring equal protection of “the right of citizens of the United States to vote.”

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