Did the Missouri AG approve the ballot summary for Mary Anne Sedey's 2019 Article VIII voting-access initiative petition with 16-year-old pre-registration (version 1, file 2020-097)?
Plain-English summary
Mary Anne Sedey filed multiple slates of Article VIII voting-access petitions through summer 2019. Petition 2020-097 is version 1 of an early-August slate that included 16-year-old pre-registration and provisional ballot transfer at the wrong polling place. A second version, 2020-098, sat alongside it for parallel review. The September wave (2020-105 through 2020-112) refined the package further into eight policy permutations.
After the Secretary of State drafted the ballot summary, the AG reviewed it under § 116.334 RSMo. AG Schmitt's letter here approves the legal content and form of that summary. The AG's role is narrow: a legal-form check on the ballot summary. It is not a policy endorsement.
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.
The exact ballot summary the AG approved
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
- establish automatic voter registration of individuals at least 16 years old from state agency lists (including the departments of revenue, social services and conservation);
- allow voters on election day to appear at the wrong polling place, vote on a wrong ballot, and have election judges later transfer the votes to the right ballot;
- allow voters to sign up to permanently vote by mail, with voting by mail allowed during the six weeks before each election; and
- make voters' method of voting a public record (mail, in person or military)?
Common questions
Q: Why register 16-year-olds?
A: Pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds (who do not vote until 18) is meant to capture young people through high-school touchpoints, when they are interacting with state agencies (driver licensing, social services). About a dozen states allow some form of pre-registration. The voter list adds the person on their 18th birthday automatically.
Q: What is "ballot transfer" at the wrong polling place?
A: Today, a voter who shows up at the wrong precinct often has to either travel to the right one or vote a provisional ballot that may not count for offices the voter is not entitled to vote for at that precinct. The petition would have election judges later route the votes to the correct ballot, so a voter casting in the wrong place still has all their votes counted.
Q: Why "make voters' method of voting a public record"?
A: This addresses transparency: campaign and academic researchers (and voters themselves) could see how each voter cast their ballot (mail, in person, or military). It does not reveal the contents of the ballot, only the method.
Q: How does this version differ from the September wave?
A: The September wave (2020-105 through 2020-112) replaced the "wrong polling place" provision with weekend in-person voting and varied three independent policy toggles across eight versions. The August wave was the predecessor framework.
Q: Did the petition reach the ballot?
A: The opinion does not say. None of Sedey's 2019 petition versions appears to have advanced to the 2020 ballot.
Background and statutory framework
Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative-petition pipeline:
- Proponent files the petition with the Secretary of State.
- AG reviews sufficiency as to form under § 116.332 RSMo.
- State Auditor prepares a fiscal note; AG reviews under § 116.175.4 RSMo.
- Secretary of State drafts a summary statement; AG reviews under § 116.334 RSMo (this opinion).
- Petition certified for circulation.
Citations and references
Statutes: § 116.334 RSMo (the operative provision); § 116.190 RSMo (judicial challenges); § 116.175 RSMo (fiscal-note pipeline); § 116.332 RSMo (sufficiency-as-to-form).
Sister Sedey early-August 2019 wave: 163-2019 (petition 2020-098, version 2 of this slate).
Sister Sedey later September 2019 wave (Article VIII voting-access, eight versions): form-review opinions 169-176 (versions 1-8); fiscal-note opinions 183-190; summary-statement opinions 195-202.
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/162-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Original opinion text
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
ERIC SCHMITT
August 2, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 162-2019
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 July 25, 2019, for our
review under § 116.334, RSMo, of a proposed summary statement prepared for
the petition submitted by Mary Anne Sedey regarding a proposed
constitutional amendment to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution,
version 1 (2020-097). The proposed summary statement is as follows:
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
• establish automatic voter registration of individuals
at least 16 years old from state agency lists (including
the departments of revenue, social services and
conservation);
• allow voters on election day to appear at the wrong
polling place, vote on a wrong ballot, and have election
judges later transfer the votes to the right ballot;
• allow voters to sign up to permanently vote by mail,
with voting by mail allowed during the six weeks
before each election; and
• make voters' method of voting a public record (mail,
in person or military)?
Pursuant to § 116.334, RSMo, we approve the legal content and form of
the proposed statement. Because our review of the statement is mandated by
statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed
as an endorsement of the petition, nor as the expression of any view regarding
the objectives of its proponents.
Very truly yours,
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-2019·0187