Missouri Amendment 1, State Executive Term Limits Amendment (2020)

Missouri Amendment 1
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Term limits and State executive official measures
Status d Defeated
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Missouri measuresMissouri Amendment 1Missouri Amendment 2Missouri Amendment 3Submit

Missouri Amendment 1, the State Executive Term Limits Amendment was on the ballot in Missouri as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. It was defeated.

A "yes" vote supported this constitutional amendment to limit the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, and attorney general, along with the governor and state treasurer, to two terms of office.

A "no" vote opposed this constitutional amendment, thereby keeping the two-term limit on the governor and state treasurer but not other state executive offices.

Election results

Missouri Amendment 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,363,767	47.16%
No		1,527,782	52.84%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What would Amendment 1 have changed?

See also: Text of the measure

Amendment 1 would have limited the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, and attorney general to two terms of office in a lifetime. As of 2020, the state constitution limited the governor and state treasurer to two terms of office in a lifetime but not the other executive offices.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for the measure was as follows:

“

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to extend the two term restriction that currently applies to the Governor and Treasurer to the Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor and the Attorney General? State and local governmental entities estimate no costs or savings from this proposal.

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for the measure was as follows:

“

A 'yes' vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to impose a two term restriction on all statewide elected officials, which currently only applies to the Governor and Treasurer. A 'no' vote will leave the terms that statewide elected officials may serve unchanged. If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article VII, Missouri Constitution

Amendment 1 would have added a Section 15 to Article VII of the Missouri Constitution. The following text would have been added:

Section 15. No person shall be elected governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, or attorney general more than twice, and no person who has held the office of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, or attorney general, or acted as governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, or attorney general, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected to such office shall be elected to that same office more than once. This subsection shall supersede the provisions of Article IV, Section 17 that relate to term limitations, provided that service in the offices of governor or state treasurer resulting from an election or appointment, or in the case of the governor succession to office, prior to December 3, 2020, shall count towards the limitations provided in this subsection.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2020

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 12, and the FRE is 38. The word count for the ballot title is 47, and the estimated reading time is 12 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 11, and the FRE is 51. The word count for the ballot summary is 52, and the estimated reading time is 13 seconds.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• Missouri State Senator Tony Luetkemeyer (R)

Arguments

• Missouri State Senator and sponsor of the measure Tony Luetkemeyer (R): "The voters of Missouri have made it clear they emphatically support term limits. This measure will bring consistency to our term limits for all state officials and prevent them from becoming career politicians."

Opposition

Opponents

Officials

• Missouri State Senator Ed Emery (R)

Arguments

• Missouri State Senator Ed Emery (R): "We want people in there who are experienced and know the job and know what they’re doing. I do think that those are a little different categorically and functionally than those top executive positions."

Campaign finance

The campaign finance information on this page reflects the most recent scheduled reports that Ballotpedia has processed, which covered through December 3, 2020.

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Missouri ballot measures

As of December 3, 2020, Ballotpedia had not identified any political action committees registered in support of or in opposition to Amendment 1.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Media editorials

See also: 2020 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

• St. Louis-Post Dispatch Editorial Board: "Although there’s much to be said for experience, limiting statewide elected officials to two four-year terms is the right thing to do. The longer they stay, the easier it is for corrupting influences to hold sway over their decision-making. Besides none of those unlimited statewide offices deserves to be treated differently from the term-limited ones. So we recommend voting yes on Amendment 1."

Opposition

Ballotpedia had not identified media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.

Background

Term limits in Missouri

Voters in Missouri had voted on three statewide ballot measures to establish term limits. The following chart illustrates the results of each measure:

Year	Initiative	Percent “Yes”	Percent “No”	Status
1965	Missouri Amendment 1: Gubernatorial Term Limits	72.96%	27.04%	Approved
1992	Missouri Amendment 12: State Legislative Term Limits	75.04%	24.96%	Approved
1992	Amendment 13: U.S. Congressional Term Limits	74.02%	25.98%	Approved (Overturned)

Gubernatorial term limits

See also: Missouri Governor Term Limits, Amendment 1 (August 1965)

Before 1965, the state constitution limited the governor to one term in office. Amendment 1 of 1965 allowed a person to serve as governor for no more than two terms. Amendment 1 received 73 percent of the vote.

As of 2019, Missouri was one of eight states to limit the governor to two terms in a lifetime. The following map illustrates gubernatorial term limits in the United States:

Lieutenant governor term limits

As of 2019, Missouri was one of 23 states with no term limits for lieutenant governors. The following map illustrates lieutenant gubernatorial term limits in the United States:

Secretary of state term limits

As of 2019, Missouri was one of 31 states with no term limits for secretaries of state. The following map illustrates secretary of state term limits in the United States:

Attorney general term limits

As of 2019, Missouri was one of 33 states with no term limits for attorneys general. The following map illustrates attorney general term limits in the United States:

State treasurer term limits

See also: Missouri State Treasurer Succession, Amendment 1 (August 1970)

In 1970, voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing a person to serve as state treasurer for no more than two terms. Before 1970, the state treasurer was limited to one term in office. The constitutional amendment received 52 percent of the vote.

As of 2019, Missouri was one of five states to limit the state treasurer (or equivalent position) to two terms in a lifetime. The following map illustrates state treasurer term limits in the United States:

State auditor term limits

As of 2019, Missouri was one of 17 states with no term limits for state auditors (or equivalent positions). The following map illustrates state auditor term limits in the United States:

State legislative term limits

See also: Missouri State Legislative Term Limits, Amendment 12 (1992)

In 1992, voters adopted a constitutional amendment, titled Amendment 12, to enact term limits on state legislators. Amendment 12 received 75 percent of the vote. The constitutional amendment prohibited a person from serving more than eight years in either the state House or state Senate, or a total of sixteen years in both legislative chambers.

Voters amended the term limits on state legislators in 2002 via Amendment 3. Amendment 3 excluded service of less than one-half of a legislative term resulting from a special election from counting toward a legislator's term limit.

Congressional term limits

See also: Missouri U.S. Congressional Term Limits, Amendment 13 (1992)

In 1992, 74 percent of electors voted to pass Amendment 13, which was designed to limit the state's U.S. Senators to two terms and U.S. Representatives to four terms.

In U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state governments could not enact term limits on members of Congress, which had the effect of invalidating Amendment 13 in Missouri.

Election policy on the ballot in 2020

In 2020, voters in 14 states voted on 18 ballot measures addressing election-related policies. One of the measures addressed campaign finance, one were related to election dates, five addressed election systems, three addressed redistricting, five addressed suffrage, and three addressed term limits.

Click Show to read details about the election-related measures on statewide ballots in 2020.

Election-related policy ballot measures in 2020

Campaign finance See also: Campaign finance on the ballot a Oregon Measure 107: Measure 107 authorizes the state legislature and local governments to (1) enact laws or ordinances limiting campaign contributions and expenditures; (2) require disclosure of contributions and expenditures; and (3) require that political advertisements identify the people or entities that paid for them. Going into the election, Oregon was one of five states with no limits on campaign contributions. Election dates a New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 2: The amendment allowed the state legislature to pass laws adjusting the election dates of state or county officeholders and adjusting office terms according to those date changes. Under the measure, laws proposing adjustments to election dates of non-statewide officeholders must be supported by a legislative finding that such a change would promote consistency or that it would evenly distribute the number of offices appearing on the ballot. Election systems a Alaska Ballot Measure 2: Ballot Measure 2 replaced the state's partisan primaries with open top-four primaries for state executive, state legislative, and congressional offices and established ranked-choice voting for general elections, including the presidential election, in which voters would rank the candidates. Ballot Measure 2 also required persons and entities that contribute more than $2,000 that were themselves derived from donations, contributions, dues, or gifts to disclose the true sources, as defined in the law, of the political contributions. Colorado Proposition 113: In 2019, the Colorado State Legislature passed a bill to add Colorado to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). NPVIC member states have agreed to give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, provided the NPVIC goes into effect. The NPVIC was designed to go into effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes join the NPVIC. The campaign Protect Colorado's Vote filed a veto referendum to overturn the law, which resulted in Proposition 113. On November 3, voters upheld the law and voted in favor of adding Colorado to the NPVIC. d Florida Amendment 3: Amendment 3 would have replaced Florida's closed primaries with top-two open primaries for elected state offices. Under Amendment 3, all candidates would have run in the same primary election. The top-two candidates, regardless of their partisan affiliation, would have moved on to the general election under Amendment 3. d Massachusetts Question 2: Question 2 would have enacted ranked-choice voting (RCV) for primary and general elections for state executive officials, state legislators, federal congressional representatives, and certain county offices. As of 2020, statewide elections in Massachusetts used a plurality voting system. a Mississippi Ballot Measure 2: As of 2020, Mississippi required that a candidate for governor or elected state office receive the most votes in a majority of the state's 122 state House of Representatives districts (known as the electoral vote requirement). Ballot Measure 2 repealed this requirement. Instead, Ballot Measure 2 provided that a candidate for governor or state office must receive a majority vote to win and that a runoff election would be held between the two highest vote-getters in the event that no candidate receives a majority vote. Redistricting See also: Redistricting measures on the ballot a Missouri Amendment 3: In 2018, Missouri voters approved Amendment 1, the Lobbying, Campaign Finance, and Redistricting Initiative, which created the nonpartisan state demographer responsible for state legislative redistricting. Amendment 3 repealed the nonpartisan state demographer and returned the state to the use of bipartisan redistricting commissions, with changes to the number and selection of commissioners. The 2020 amendment also maintained the criteria of competitiveness and partisan fairness that was enacted in 2018, but it loosened the partisan fairness requirement and required that population, voter rights abridgment, contiguous districts, simple shapes, and the rules for counties be considered with a higher priority. a New Jersey Public Question 3: As of 2020, the New Jersey Constitution required the state legislative redistricting commission to pass a redistricting plan within a month of receiving the official census data. Question 3 postponed state legislative redistricting until after the election on November 2, 2021, should the state receive federal census data after February 15, 2021. The U.S. Census Bureau asked Congress to extend the deadline to deliver census data from April 1, 2021, to July 31, 2021, due to delays related to the coronavirus pandemic. a Virginia Question 1: Question 1 transferred the power to draw the state's congressional and legislative districts from the state legislature to a redistricting commission composed of state legislators and citizens. Going into 2020, the Virginia General Assembly was responsible for drawing the state's congressional and state legislative district boundaries. The redistricting plans were passed as legislation and subject to the governor's veto power. Suffrage See also: Suffrage on the ballot a Alabama Amendment 1: Amendment 1 amended the Alabama Constitution to state that "only a citizen of the United States," rather than "every citizen of the United States," who is 18 years old or older has the right to vote in Alabama. a California Proposition 17: Proposition 17 amended the state constitution to allow people with felonies who are on parole to vote; therefore, the ballot measure kept imprisonment as a disqualification for voting but removed parole status. Going into 2020, the California Constitution disqualified people with felonies from voting until the completion of their imprisonment and parole. d California Proposition 18: Proposition 18 would have allowed 17-year-olds who will be 18 at the time of the next general election to vote in primary elections and special elections. a Colorado Amendment 76: Amendment 76 amended the Colorado Constitution to state that “only a citizen”, instead of "every citizen", of the U.S. who is 18 years of age or older can vote in Colorado. Under the Colorado Votes Act, which went into effect in August 2019, individuals who are 17 years of age at the time of a primary election but who will be 18 years of age at the time of a general election were allowed to register to vote and vote in the primary election. According to the Colorado Blue Book, prevents 17-year-olds from voting. a Florida Amendment 1: Amendment 1 amended the Florida Constitution to state that “only a citizen” of the U.S. who is 18 years old or older can vote in Florida instead of saying that "every citizen" of the U.S. who is 18 years old or older can vote in Florida. Term limits and term lengths See also: Term limits on the ballot a Arkansas Issue 2: Issue 2 changed term limits of state legislators to twelve consecutive years with the opportunity to return after a four-year break. The 12-year limit applied to anyone elected in 2021 or after. Going into 2020, Arkansas legislators could serve up to 16 years throughout their lifetimes in the House or Senate. d Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 2: The amendment would have increased the office terms of commonwealth's attorneys from six years to eight years starting in 2030; increased the office terms of district judges from four years to eight years starting in 2022; and changed attorney licensing requirements for district judges from two years to eight years beginning in 2022. d Missouri Amendment 1: Amendment 1 would have limited the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, and attorney general to two terms of office in a lifetime. Going into 2020, the state constitution limited the governor and state treasurer to two terms of office in a lifetime but not the other executive offices.

Referred amendments on the ballot

From 1996 through 2018, the Missouri State Legislature referred 41 constitutional amendments to the ballot. All but one of the amendments were on the ballot in even-numbered years. Voters approved 31 of the referred amendments. The average number of amendments appearing on the ballot during an even-numbered election year was three. In 2018, one constitutional amendment appeared on the ballot. The approval rate at the ballot box was 76 percent during the 22-year period from 1996 through 2018. The last time voters rejected a referred amendment was in 2004.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1996-2018
Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Even-year average	Even-year median	Annual minimum	Annual maximum
41	31	75.61%	10	24.39%	3.33	2.50	1	8

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Missouri Constitution

In Missouri, a constitutional amendment requires a simple majority vote in each chamber of the Missouri State Legislature during one legislative session. That amounts to a minimum of 82 votes in the Missouri House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Missouri Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-34) introduced Amendment 1 as Senate Joint Resolution 14 (SJR 14) on December 3, 2018.

On April 16, 2019, the state Senate approved SJR 14 in a vote of 31 to three. At least 18 votes were needed to pass SJR 14. On May 17, 2019, the state House approved SJR 14 in a vote of 114-32. As three seats were vacant in the state House, 81 votes were needed to pass SJR 14.

Vote in the Missouri State Senate April 16, 2019
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 18  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	31	3	0
Total percent	91.18%	8.82%	0.00%
Democrat	9	1	0
Republican	22	2	0

Vote in the Missouri House of Representatives May 17, 2019
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 81  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	114	32	14
Total percent	71.25%	20.00%	8.75%
Democrat	15	24	7
Republican	99	8	7

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Missouri

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Missouri.

How to cast a vote in Missouri

The information below covers regular voting policies in the state. Information may have not applied to the election on November 3, 2020, because of temporary changes in response to coronavirus. Click here to read about changes made for the 2020 elections. Poll times In Missouri, all polling places are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration Check your voter registration status here. To vote in Missouri, one must be 18 years old, a United States citizen, and Missouri resident. An applicant may print an application, pick one up from a county clerk's office, or request that an application be mailed. The completed application must be returned by mail. All returned applications must be postmarked at least 27 days prior to Election Day in order to be processed. An applicant may also register to vote online. Automatic registration Missouri does not practice automatic voter registration. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Missouri has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registration Missouri does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Missouri, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify the length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Voters may file change-of-address forms after the registration deadline, up to and including Election Day, provided that they can present photo identification upon doing so. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Missouri does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The Missouri Secretary of State's office allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Missouri requires voters to present photo identification while voting. The following were accepted forms of identification as of April 2023. Click here for the Missouri Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information. Voters can present the following forms of information: A nonexpired Missouri driver or non-driver license; A nonexpired military ID, including a veteran’s ID card; A nonexpired United States passport; or Another photo ID issued by the United States or the state of Missouri which is either not expired or expired after the date of the most recent general election. If a voter does not have an ID, he or she can obtain one for free by filling out this form.

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Term limits on the ballot
• State executive official measures on the ballot

Missouri

• Missouri ballot measures
• Missouri ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Amendment 1 full text
• 2020 Ballot Measures