Amendments 4 and 5 soundly defeated by Missourians
Two Missouri Constitutional Amendment questions were on the August 2026 primary. Amendment 4 would have toughened the rules for approving citizen-led changes to the state constitution, requiring a majority in all eight congressional districts as opposed to the current standard of a simple statewide majority. Amendment 5 would have phased out Missouri’s personal income tax and raised other sales taxes to offset the lost revenue. The initiatives had been placed on the primary ballots by the Republican led legislature in hopes that the lower turnout than a November election would help get the amendments passed, although they had framed the time as necessary to write the Amendment 5 law if that initiative was successful. Both Amendment 4 and Amendment 5 were rejected by more than 80% of voters. More than a million people voted against both measures. Not a single county in Missouri approved either measure. Both rural and urban voters rejected the amendments by similar margins.
Amendments 4 and 5 were not as unpopular as a ‘70s-era proposal to increase the gas tax, but they came close.
SPRINGFIELD, mo dAILY cITIZEN NEWSPAPER
A day after resounding defeats of the two measures in the Aug. 4 election, supporters said that the ideas in the measures are still worth pursuing.
But opponents were pleased with the victories, saying that they had defended Missouri’s constitution from political power grabs by the governor and state lawmakers.
Mr. Charton, a leading opponent of both measures said, “both measures failed so badly because they disrespected voters and voters’ opinions on other provisions they had passed by wide margins.” These other provisions voters passed had addressed abortion rights, paid sick leave and the minimum wage.
Lee’s Summit, MO runs out of Democratic primary ballots
In other news, suburban Lee’s Summit, Missouri community runs out of ballots as 20,000 more Democratic and nonpartisan ballots than were needed than the last August primary. Voters stood in long lines and waited to cast their votes in the primary races.
“The willingness of voters to remain in line stood out despite the inconvenience. What I thought was really encouraging is everyone was super positive and no one left,” she said. “Everyone stayed. So even with the inconvenience of having to wait for the ballot, everyone still wanted to do their civic duty and vote. And so I thought that was awesome.”
Lee’s Summit voter Becca Waldrup
These primary results from Missouri show us exactly how important it is that every progressive voter show up to vote and the massive results we can achieve.
Read more coverage about the 2026 Missouri primary results.
https://sgfcitizen.org/government/elections/missouri-amendments-4-5-defeated/
