Jess Piper, left, and Will Westmoreland, right, will be featured speakers at the St. Joseph campaign launch.
Respect Missouri Voters will begin gathering signatures across the state September 10 to place a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot to ban legislators from attacking the will of the people.
Launch parties will be held throughout Missouri, where volunteers can pick up supplies to begin gathering signatures. The local party is on Wednesday, September 10, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at East Hills Library, Theater Room, at 502 N. Woodbine Rd in St. Joseph. Nancy Zeliff, Skidmore, serves as the St. Joseph Region Outreach and Field Director, leading over 140 volunteers in the 12 counties in this region. Volunteers will be collecting signatures on petitions and speaking to organizations and citizen groups in the months ahead.
Featured speakers at the St. Joseph campaign launch are two nationally- and state-known rural political advocates. Jess Piper of Blue Missouri and Will Westmoreland of Highlander Political Strategies are the featured speakers. Piper is a fierce advocate for rural communities and public schools. She was an American literature teacher for 16 years and decided to run for a house seat in Missouri’s first district in 2022. Although she lost the race, she continues her activism. She is the executive director of Blue Missouri and writes a substack called “The View from Rural Missouri.”
Westmoreland is a political strategist and specializes in rural voter outreach. His “The Back Forty” produces media content online and seeks to educate and inform everyone about life and farming in rural America. His “Meet in the Middle” events foster community and bring neighbors from across the political spectrum together to find solutions that help rural America. Information and an RSVP can be found at https://www.mobilize.us/respectmovoters/event/832773/
The Respect Missouri Voters amendment would ban politicians from:
• Overturning initiatives that voters have already passed,
• Attacking citizens’ ability to use the initiative process, and
• Deceiving voters with confusing ballot language.
Respect Missouri Voters is a cross-partisan, volunteer-driven coalition that has been building support through town halls and events, recruiting 3,000 volunteers and raising an initial $350,000 to cover expenses. “Missourians deserve a government that respects their voices,” said Toni Easter, co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “This amendment will make sure that politicians can’t overturn initiatives with partisan attacks, now or in the future. It’s time to turn massive volunteer energy into massive action,” said Benjamin Singer, co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “We need every voter who wants to ban politicians from attacking the will of the people to help gather 300,000 signatures in just a few months. We’re a volunteer-driven movement. Come on out to our launch parties and let’s save democracy together.”
This year, legislators worked to overturn two initiatives voters approved last year: paid sick leave and women’s healthcare. The legislature also passed Senate Bill 22, commonly referred to as the “Let Politicians Lie Act” which makes it easier for politicians to put deceptive language on the ballot. These actions add to the long record of Missouri politicians overturning initiatives passed by Missouri voters. Clean Missouri, an anti-corruption and redistricting reform initiative passed in 2018, was gutted by lawmakers in 2020 through misleading ballot language. Similarly, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, approved by voters in 2010, was repealed by the legislature the following year.
The movement has already earned support from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), Missouri National Organization of Women, Veterans for All Voters, Metropolitan Congregations United, the Missouri NAACP, Show Me Integrity, St. Louis Association of Community Organizations, former House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield), and former State Senator Bob Johnson (R-Lee’s Summit).
