Ezel / AG Opinions / MO
MO Opinion No. 176-2019 2019-08-19

Did the Missouri AG approve the form of Mary Anne Sedey's 2019 Article VIII voting-access initiative petition (version 8, file 2020-112)?

Short answer: Yes, as to form. AG Schmitt approved the legal form of Sedey's voting-access petition 2020-112 (version 8) to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution. Form approval under § 116.332 RSMo is procedural; the Secretary of State retains final authority to approve or reject. The fiscal-note review (190-2019) and summary-statement review (202-2019) followed in September.
Currency note: this opinion is from 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.
Disclaimer: This is an official Missouri Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Missouri attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Plain-English summary

Mary Anne Sedey filed eight parallel initiative petitions in August 2019 (numbers 2020-105 through 2020-112) to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution (suffrage and elections) with a package of voting-access reforms: automatic voter registration from state agency lists, permanent vote-by-mail signup, in-person voting the weekend before elections, and various per-version add-ons. Petition 2020-112 is version 8.

Under § 116.332 RSMo, the Secretary of State sends each filed petition to the AG for a "sufficiency as to form" review. AG Schmitt's letter here approves the form of version 8. Form approval is structural; it does not endorse the policy and it does not bind the Secretary of State, who retains final approval authority.

This is the form-review step that came before the fiscal-note review (190-2019, September 6) and the summary-statement review (202-2019, September 19) for the same petition.

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: How does version 8 differ from the rest?
A: Per the parallel summary-statement opinion 202-2019, version 8 (file 2020-112) requires voter-method list publication and excludes both 16-17 year old pre-registration and the Department of Corrections from registration sources. The eight versions explore the 2x2x2 combinations of three policy toggles.

Q: What does Article VIII cover?
A: Suffrage and elections (voter qualifications, secret ballot, election administration, recall, initiative, and referendum).

Q: Who has final authority on form?
A: The Secretary of State, John R. Ashcroft at the time. § 116.332 expressly reserves "final authority to approve or reject" to him.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative-petition pipeline. This opinion sits at step 2:

  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 prepares a fiscal note; AG reviews under § 116.175.4 RSMo.
  4. Secretary of State drafts a summary statement; AG reviews under § 116.334 RSMo.
  5. Petition certified for circulation.

Citations and references

Statutes: § 116.332 RSMo (the operative provision); § 116.175 RSMo (fiscal-note pipeline); § 116.334 RSMo (summary-statement pipeline); § 116.050 RSMo (drafting requirements).

Companion opinions on the same petition (2020-112): 190-2019 (fiscal note review), 202-2019 (summary statement review).

Sister Sedey Article VIII cluster opinions in the September 2019 wave (versions 1-8): form review for v8 (this opinion); fiscal-note opinions 186-190; summary-statement opinions 195-202.

Source

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI

ERIC SCHMITT

August 19, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 176-2019

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 August 9, 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 8 (2020-112).

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.

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-2019-0203