In the upcoming November 2024 election, Missourians will vote on a “trick measure” seemingly banning non-citizens from voting. It’s fair to be confused: that’s been illegal for more than a century.
Beneath this tricky language lies a more harmful agenda: eroding local control and voters’ power to decide electoral processes.
Yet again, the Missouri legislature is using “ballot candy”: placing a shiny object in the first line on the ballot, and burying their actual agenda in fine print. Obscuring the real meaning of an amendment is lying — it’s taking away your right to vote for what you actually want. Reading the fine print is important, but you shouldn’t need a law degree to understand what your ballot is really saying. There’s a reason a lot of people skip past the fine print in their daily lives and just click “Accept the Terms and Conditions.” We assume that nothing in the fine print is deliberately trying to take our rights away, but that’s not the case with this ballot measure.