Respect Missouri Voters sponsored a food drive benefiting the St. James Caring Center’s food distribution programs and a total of $642 was donated to the Caring Center.

These funds play a critical role in supplementing shortages during Commodity Day Food Distribution, ensuring that families continue to receive essential groceries even when supply levels fluctuate. The Caring Center’s primary source of food items is the Food Bank of Missouri, which has reduced its allocations to the Center by approximately 40%. This significant decrease has made it increasingly challenging to maintain full grocery baskets for the community.

In recent years, state ballot initiatives have served as powerful tools to advance economic opportunity for working families. Voters directly have raised the minimum wage, secured paid sick leave, protected abortion access, enacted bail reform, expanded Medicaid, and increased funding for public education—all popular progressive economic policies that some state legislatures have failed to enact. However, some conservative state legislatures have responded by overturning or limiting recent wins. And in the few Southern states where voters can access ballot measures—Arkansas, Florida, and Oklahoma—conservative legislators are waging war against the ballot initiative process itself, attempting to obstruct the will of voters and make it permanently more difficult for the public to directly decide on policy choices.

Through his internship with Northwest’s Center of Policy and Civic Engagement, a Northwest political science major has had the opportunity to host his own ballot initiative educational event.

Senior Kent Onishi hosted his Ballot Initiative Talk March 10 to allow attendees to learn about the process. Associate Professor of Political Science Jessica Gracey and RespectMoVoters St. Joseph Field Director Nancy Zeliff spoke alongside Onishi.

Since organizing the Voters Not Politicians 2018 ballot initiative that put citizens in charge of drawing Michigan's legislative maps, Katie Fahey has been the founding executive director of The People, which is forming statewide networks to promote government accountability. She regularly interviews colleagues in the democracy reform world for our Opinion section.

Benjamin Singer has led successful state and local democracy reform campaigns with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents for over a decade. Currently, Benjamin serves as Co-Founder and Campaign Director of Respect Missouri (MO) Voters, a cross-partisan, volunteer-led coalition working to protect the citizen initiative process to build a more ethical, effective government of, by, and for the people.trict.

People gathered Thursday night in Jefferson City to strategize against what many see as an attack on Missouri voters.

Missouri lawmakers have proposed a constitutional change to make the initiative petition process more strict.

“Respect Missouri Voters” sponsored an informational meeting Tuesday at the Heckart Community Center, 1800 W. 3rd Street, in Sedalia, concerning the citizen initiative petition process.

 Moderating the meeting was Alex Johnson, field director for Respect Mo Voters. The first half of the town hall meeting was educational, explaining how the initiative petition process works in Missouri. The second half was a training session for those wanting to volunteer to gather signatures of registered voters in the 4th Congressional District.

Alisa Nelson talks to Benjamin Singer, the co-founder of a campaign gathering signatures to ask Missouri voters to ban the state legislature from overturning the will of the people.

Sedalia residents with Respect MO Voters are planning a town hall on Tuesday, February 10 about how Missouri’s citizen ballot initiative process works, and how citizens can stop politicians from attacking this century-old freedom.

The Respect Missouri Voters Campaign hosted an event in Des Peres Wednesday celebrating a milestone in their effort to put a measure on the ballot.

A statewide coalition wants to put an end to what its members see as the Missouri Legislature’s penchant for overturning laws passed directly by voters.

Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals unanimously tossed out part of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’s ballot language on Thursday for an initiative petition that would bar state funding of private education.

Missouri voters mobilize to protect their petition rights as a statewide coalition brings its fight to Joplin.

"Respect MO Voters" held a town hall on Wednesday about protecting Missouri's citizen initiative petition process.

The group says they want to prevent politicians from overturning voter-approved measures and using ballot language that may confuse voters.

Joplin residents with Respect MO Voters are planning a town hall Wednesday, Jan. 28 on Missouri’s citizen ballot initiative process.

Some residents feel that Missouri politicians have disrespected voters, since several times in the last several years, the legislature has overturned election results and deceived voters with confusing ballot language.

A town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday in Cameron organized by Cameron residents behind the Respect MO Voters movement to preserve the initiative petition process and add restrictions on the legislature’s ability to revise or undo what voters have approved.

Cameron residents affiliated with Respect MO Voters will host a public town hall on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to explain how Missouri’s citizen ballot initiative system operates and to outline ways voters can respond to legislative efforts that critics say undermine that process.

Respect Missouri Voters and Missouri Right to Education are volunteer-led cross-partisan campaigns to pass ballot initiatives for state constitutional amendments that will benefit Missourians.

A volunteer-led campaign in Missouri is pursuing a ballot initiative this November to prevent lawmakers from changing the initiative petition process and ballot measures approved by voters.

A grassroots campaign in Missouri called Respect MO Voters is pushing for the passage of a multi-faceted ballot initiative for a state constitutional amendment as part of the November 2026 midterm election.

A handful of people turned out for an evening town hall last week hosted by Respect MO Voters.

The group, which describes itself as cross partisan, wants more people to help gather signatures to place an issue on the November ballot, protecting Missouri’s initiative petition process. The ongoing town halls include training for those who want to help.

If there was a word to describe the past 12 months in Missouri and Illinois politics and government, deluge would probably top the list.

That’s because 2025 brought about an almost unending string of major news events. It included leadership transitions in Missouri and the St. Louis area and immense conflict within the Missouri General Assembly.

Respect or protect Missouri voters? Is there a difference?

If you ask lawmakers and petitioners throughout the state, that answer is a resounding “yes.”

Two diametrically opposed amendments to the Missouri Constitution regarding the initiative petition process could be hitting the ballot next year.

In that case, voters will have to decide which side they’re on: respecting or protecting.