Ezel / AG Opinions / MO
MO Opinion No. 195-2019 2019-09-19

Did the Missouri AG approve the ballot summary for Mary Anne Sedey's 2019 Article VIII voting-access initiative petition (version 1, file 2020-105)?

Short answer: Yes, as to legal content and form. AG Schmitt approved the Secretary of State's summary statement for Sedey's Article VIII petition 2020-105 (version 1). The petition would have established automatic voter registration from state agency lists (including the Department of Corrections), allowed permanent vote-by-mail signup with six-week mail-voting windows, required publication of voter-method lists, and allowed in-person voting the weekend before elections. The AG's review under § 116.334 RSMo is procedural, not a policy endorsement.
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 AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent.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 September 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. Petition 2020-105 is version 1 of the family.

After the Secretary of State drafted a summary statement (the ballot question voters would see), the AG reviewed its legal content and form under § 116.334 RSMo. AG Schmitt's letter here approves the summary for version 1. Version 1 includes the Department of Corrections among the agencies feeding automatic voter registration, requires publication of voter-method lists, but does not include 16-17 year old pre-registration.

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 adults from state agency lists (including the departments of revenue, social services, corrections and conservation);
  • allow voters to sign up to permanently vote by mail, with voting by mail allowed during the six weeks before each election;
  • require the secretary of state and election authorities to make available a list of registered voters who voted by a particular method (mail, in person or military); and
  • allow in-person voting the weekend before an election?

Common questions

Q: How does version 1 differ from the other Sedey September 2019 versions?
A: Version 1 includes the Department of Corrections among registration sources, requires voter-method list publication, but excludes 16-17 year old pre-registration. The eight versions explore the 2x2x2 combinations of three policy toggles (teen pre-registration, voter-method list publication, and Corrections-department inclusion).

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

Q: Why include the Department of Corrections in registration sources?
A: This would have automatically enrolled people coming through the corrections system (release, parole, probation interactions) to vote, subject to Missouri's existing felony-disenfranchisement rules in § 115.133 RSMo. The proponent's policy choice is whether to bring corrections-system contacts into the auto-registration pipeline.

Q: Did this petition reach the ballot?
A: The opinion does not say. None of the September 2019 Sedey versions appears to have advanced to the 2020 ballot.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative-petition pipeline:

  1. Proponent files the petition with the Secretary of State.
  2. AG reviews sufficiency as to form under § 116.332 RSMo.
  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 (this opinion).
  5. Petition certified for circulation.

Citations and references

Statutes: § 116.334 RSMo (the operative provision); § 116.175 RSMo (fiscal-note pipeline); § 116.332 RSMo (sufficiency-as-to-form); § 116.190 RSMo (judicial challenges to summary); § 115.133 RSMo (felony disenfranchisement).

Constitutional provisions referenced: Mo. Const. art. VIII (suffrage and elections); art. III § 50 (initiative).

Sister Sedey Article VIII summary-statement opinions in this September 2019 cluster: 196-2019 (v2, 2020-106), 197-2019 (v3, 2020-107), 198-2019 (v4, 2020-108), 199-2019 (v5, 2020-109), 200-2019 (v6, 2020-110), 201-2019 (v7, 2020-111), 202-2019 (v8, 2020-112).

Fiscal-note reviews on the same Sedey cluster: 186-190-2019.

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

September 19, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 195-2019

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 September 9, 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 (2020-105). The proposed summary statement is as follows:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

  • establish automatic voter registration of adults from state agency lists (including the departments of revenue, social services, corrections and conservation);
  • allow voters to sign up to permanently vote by mail, with voting by mail allowed during the six weeks before each election;
  • require the secretary of state and election authorities to make available a list of registered voters who voted by a particular method (mail, in person or military); and
  • allow in-person voting the weekend before an election?

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-2019-0225