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Amendment 3

Joe Hardy
Posted 10/21/20

To the Editor:

In 2018 the voters of Missouri passed the “CLEAN Amendment” by an overwhelming 2/3 majority. This amendment created a sensible, non-partisan method for drying up state …

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Amendment 3

Posted

To the Editor:

In 2018 the voters of Missouri passed the “CLEAN Amendment” by an overwhelming 2/3 majority. This amendment created a sensible, non-partisan method for drying up state Senate and House districts that cannot be gerrymandered to favor one political party over the other. It also established contribution limits to House and Senate candidates and limited lobbyist gifts to five dollars per occurrence. The passage of the Clean Amendment was a model of democracy in action. It was supported state wide by groups and individuals of all political persuasions and it passed in every senate district in the state.
In fact the Clean Amendment is so good the forces of political chicanery in Jefferson City want to replace it with Amendment 3. Amendment three begins by lowering the contribution limit to Senate campaigns from $2500 to $2400 and eliminating the five dollar lobbyist gift provision. So far so good but Amendment 3 is 15 pages long and filled with mischief. It eliminates the non-partisan State Demographer and the guidelines for drawing up house and senate districts established by the Clean Amendment and put this process back in the hands of the Governor who appoints a commission to drive district maps as they see fit behind closed doors. Once these districts are established the right of the people to challenge them in the courts is so limited by Amendment 3 that it is essentially non existent.
Amendment 3 is being called “job security for state Representatives and Senators: for good reason. It’s already difficult to vote an incumbent out of office but if Amendment 3 passes it will be nearly impossible. Elections should be free, fair, and accessible and represent the will of the people. The CLEAN Amendment moved us a long way toward achieving this goal. Amendment 3 will destroy that progress and put us in a place of far worse than where we were before we passed the Clean Amendment. Vote NO on Amendment 3.
 
Joe Hardy

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