Stung by Voters, Republican Legislators Move to Curb Citizen Initiatives

[RandySF]

Voters frustrated by one-party control in Republican states over the last decade have increasingly turned to citizen-sponsored initiatives to enact policies that their legislatures won’t. They expanded Medicaid, adopted paid sick leave, raised the minimum wage and safeguarded access to abortion.

Now, the legislators are striking back.

In North Dakota, Utah and South Dakota, legislatures are sponsoring measures on the November ballot that would raise the threshold for approving citizen amendments to 60 percent, not a simple majority.

In Missouri, the legislature placed a measure on the ballot that would set an even higher bar: Citizen-sponsored amendments to the state constitution would have to win in each of the state’s eight U.S. House districts. An initiative that wins 95 percent of the vote statewide could lose if it fails in a single district.



https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/us/politics/republicans-citizen-initiatives.html

[aeromanKC]

1. JFC people, it's not rocket science, STOP voting for the GOP!!!

[Aepps22]

3. This is the way

I don’t feel bad about Republicans doing this because you can’t keep electing these idiots and then think you can use ballot initiatives to stop them.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Yes, in MO too, we passed a wildlife bill, and before you know it, the repugs in MO had neutered the bill to almost

nothing, stating that farmers didn't like the bill even thought the bill was voted for by a vast majority of Missourians. This still pisses me off.