Under the Dome – Hundreds Rally For Majority Rule
Welcome back to Under the Dome, your weekly update on the goings-on of the Missouri state legislature.
Missourians Support Majority Rule
Hundreds of Missourians from across the state and political spectrum rallied in the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City on Tuesday as part of Missouri Voting Rights Lobby Day. They sent a clear message to politicians regarding proposed changes to the initiative petition process: Don’t end majority rule in Missouri.
Supporting “one person, one vote,” advocates gathered for the non-partisan event to urge lawmakers to reject efforts to undermine Missouri’s citizen initiative process.
Jean Dugan, Executive Director of League of Women Voters, visited with House lawmakers and expressed her dissent for the initiative petition reform bills. She told KOMU-TV that the current process is a time-tested policy that does not need to be changed.
“It’s been around since 1907 and we like it,” Dugan said. “It gives every person in our state a voice in our state government, that we think is really valuable.”
Dugan, with other representatives of organizations and unions, tasked over 150 people with going door to door in the Capitol to talk to lawmakers about shutting down initiative petition bills.
“The important thing is that they know our concerns,” Dugan said. “Initiative petitions protect Missouri’s democracy.”
Following a rally in the rotunda, participants visited with their legislators and packed the Senate floor to demand that they protect the initiative petition process.
Opposition to radical plans from politicians to end majority rule in Missouri is strong, bipartisan and broad. Those testifying against altering the 100+ year standard of majority rule outnumbered those who want to strip Missourians of their rights by 95%. Testimony heard included:
- HJR 86: 4 support, 117 opposed
- HJR 76: 6 supporters, 119 opposed
- HJR 119: 6 support, 115 opposed
- Totals: 16 support, 351 opposed
“These politicians are the ‘snake oil salesmen’ of old Westerns. Don’t buy it. They are ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing,'” said Jim Kabell, former President of the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters. “They know you support majority rule, so they’re trying to hoodwink voters into giving their rights away. We are not going to let them get away with that.”
Progress Missouri has made it easy for you to tell your legislator you will not be tricked into giving your rights away – more than 500 Missourians have already done so.