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Missouri Governor Appointed Appellate Judges Initiative (2022)

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Missouri Governor Appointed Appellate Judges Initiative
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Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
State judiciary
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment
Origin
Citizens

The Missouri Governor Appointed Appellate Judges Initiative was not on the ballot in Missouri as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

The amendment would have authorized the governor to appoint appellate judges with confirmation by the Missouri State Senate to life terms and to appointed the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court. Currently, appellate judges are nominated by a commission and appointed by the governor for 12 year terms and the chief justice is selected by the state supreme court. The measure would take effect on December 8, 2022.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:[1]

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to provide that:

  • appellate court (supreme court and court of appeals) judges shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate;
  • the governor shall appoint the chief justice of the supreme court; and
  • the governor’s appointments to the appellate court are for life?

State and local government entities estimate no costs or savings from this proposal.[2]

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Missouri

Process in Missouri

In Missouri, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election in six of the eight state congressional districts. Signatures must be filed with the secretary of state six months prior to the election.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2022 ballot:

  • Signatures: The smallest possible requirement was 171,592 valid signatures. The actual requirement depends on the congressional districts in which signatures were collected.
  • Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was May 8, 2022.

Once the signatures have been filed with the secretary of state, the secretary copies the petition sheets and transmits them to county election authorities for verification. The secretary of state may choose whether the signatures are to be verified by a 5 percent random sample or full verification. If the random sampling projects between 90 percent and 110 percent of required signatures, a full check of all signatures is required. If more than 110 percent, the initiative is certified, and, if less than 90 percent, the initiative fails.

Stages of this initiative

Chris Vas filed the ballot initiative on December 30, 2020. On February 22, 2021, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) cleared the initiative for signature gathering.[1]

This initiative did not meet the signature requirements by the May 8, 2022 deadline.[3]

See also

Footnotes