Did the Missouri AG approve the form of Mary Anne Sedey's 2019 initiative petition (version 11) to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution?

Plain-English summary

Mary Anne Sedey filed an initiative petition (file 2020-082) to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution. Article VIII is the article that governs elections in Missouri, covering qualifications of voters, registration, conduct of elections, and related machinery. Under § 116.332 RSMo the Secretary of State refers each filed petition to the Attorney General for "sufficiency as to form" review. The AG approved the form.

The approval is narrow. The AG checked only whether the petition uses the form that Chapter 116 RSMo requires for initiative petitions, not whether the proposal is constitutional, drafted clearly, or a good idea. Section 116.332 also expressly reserves the final form decision to the Secretary of State, so the AG's approval does not bind that office.

The opinion comes paired with Opinion 106-2019, which covers Version 12 (file 2020-083) of the same Sedey package. Proponents commonly file several versions of a constitutional initiative at the same time to let them pick the one that survives the AG and ballot-summary pipeline.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: What is "Article VIII" of the Missouri Constitution?
A: Article VIII is the elections article. It establishes voter qualifications, registration requirements, the secret ballot, election administration, and the General Assembly's authority to legislate further on voting procedures. Sedey's petition aimed to amend some part of that article. The AG opinion does not describe the substance because form review does not turn on substance.

Q: What does it mean that the AG "approved as to form"?
A: It means the petition satisfied the procedural form requirements for an initiative petition under Chapter 116 RSMo. As the AG letter states, form approval is not an endorsement, not a finding of constitutionality, and not a determination of "adequacy."

Q: Can the petition still be rejected after form approval?
A: Yes. Section 116.332 expressly preserves the Secretary of State's final-decision authority. The petition also has to clear later gates: AG review of the fiscal-note and summary-statement language (§§ 116.175, 116.334 RSMo), pre-circulation litigation challenges, and ultimately the signature-gathering threshold.

Q: Why did the AG mention "no view respecting the adequacy or inadequacy of the petition generally"?
A: That is boilerplate from § 116.332. The legislature wanted to make clear that the AG's job in form review is purely procedural, not substantive. If anyone later challenges the petition on substance, they cannot cite the AG's form-approval letter as endorsement.

Q: How does Version 11 differ from Version 12 (Opinion 106-2019)?
A: The AG opinions for both versions are identical in their procedural reasoning. The substantive difference between Versions 11 and 12 is internal to the petition language and is not described in either AG opinion. Proponents typically file parallel versions to hedge against drafting risk.

Q: What is the signature threshold for an Article VIII amendment?
A: A constitutional amendment by initiative requires signatures from 8% of the legal voters in two-thirds of the congressional districts, computed against the most recent gubernatorial vote, per Mo. Const. art. III, § 50.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative pipeline:

1. Proponent files the petition with the Secretary of State.
2. AG reviews sufficiency as to form under § 116.332 RSMo (this opinion).
3. State Auditor drafts a fiscal note and fiscal-note summary; AG reviews legal content and form under § 116.175 RSMo.
4. Secretary of State drafts the official ballot summary statement; AG reviews under § 116.334 RSMo.
5. Petition certified for circulation; signatures gathered by deadline.

Under § 116.332 the Secretary of State retains final authority on form approval. AG sufficiency-as-to-form review is statutorily required but advisory; the Secretary of State makes the final call.

Citations and references

Statutes: § 116.332, RSMo (the operative provision).

Constitutional provisions referenced: Mo. Const. art. VIII (elections, the subject of the proposed amendment); Mo. Const. art. III, § 50 (initiative).

Sister Sedey Article VIII opinion: 106-2019 (Version 12, 2020-083).

Source

• Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/105-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Original opinion text

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI

ERIC SCHMITT

June 27, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 105-2019

The Honorable John R. Ashcroft
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101

Dear Secretary Ashcroft:

This opinion letter responds to your request dated June 17, 2019, for our review under § 116.332, RSMo, of the sufficiency as to form of an initiative petition to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution submitted by Mary Anne Sedey, Version 11 (2020-082).

We approve the petition as to form, but § 116.332 gives the Secretary of State final authority to approve or reject the petition. Therefore, our approval of the form of the petition does not preclude you from rejecting the petition.

Because our review of the petition is simply for the purpose of determining sufficiency as to form, the fact that we do not reject the petition is not to be construed as a determination that the petition is sufficient as to substance. Likewise, because our review is mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement of the petition or of the objectives of its proponents, or the expression of any view respecting the adequacy or inadequacy of the petition generally.

ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General

Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
www.ago.mo.gov

OP-2019-0122