Missourians soon could be asked to sign petitions seeking to change the way we elect members of Congress, statewide officials and state lawmakers.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced Monday that two initiative petitions submitted in December met the state's standards for circulation.
Both petitions propose to eliminate party labels and the August primary elections for all candidates running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, attorney general, secretary of state, state senator and state representative.
The only statewide office not included in the list is the state auditor, who is on the ballot in the "mid-term" elections - when the U.S. president, Missouri governor and the four other statewide officials are not on the ballot.
The proposals also don't mention local races for city council or mayor or for the various county government officials and commissioners. Under the city charter, Jefferson City government already holds "nonpartisan" elections.
The proposals, submitted by Damien Johnson of St. Louis, would require all the listed candidates to appear on the November general election ballot as "nonpartisan," and would declare a winner only if one of the candidates received at least a simple majority of all votes cast, described as "50 percent, plus one."
If none of the candidates achieved that support, the proposed amendment says, "then there shall be a runoff between the top two candidates no later than 60 days after the November election."
As an example, if the proposed language had been in-effect last year, and no one won a clear majority in the Nov. 8 election, the run-off election would have been required to be held no later than Jan. 7 - just two days before the Constitution required the newly elected statewide officials to take office, and several days after the Congress and the state General Assembly had begun their 2017 sessions.
The proposal includes an exception for candidates "running in a special election or a runoff" - otherwise, the November election is the only one for candidates for those listed offices.
The proposed amendments also prohibit candidates for those offices from being required to pay more than $100 as a filing fee, or from collecting signatures to get on the ballot as an independent candidate.
The state auditor's fiscal note for both petitions says the proposed amendments have a cost: "Local election authorities and the state will likely incur increased election-related costs estimated to be $528,000 per election cycle with the total costs being unknown, but likely significant."
The secretary of state's ballot titles also are the same for both proposals.
Johnson was not available Monday to comment on his proposals for this story.
Ashcroft's news release reminded Missourians that the proposed amendments' supporters must gather signatures from registered voters equal to at least 8 percent of the total votes cast in the 2016 governor's election, from at least six of the state's eight congressional districts.
If the supporters collect enough valid signatures - and submit them to Ashcroft's office no later than 5 p.m. on May 6, 2018 - the proposals would be placed on the Nov. 6, 2018, general election ballot.
No proposed amendment becomes official until 30 days after the election where voters approved it.
The two proposals join nearly 70 others that were approved for circulation since the Nov. 8 general election.
So far, Secretaries Ashcroft and his predecessor, Jason Kander, have approved for circulation:
16 constitutional amendment petitions involving the General Assembly and campaign finances.
10 proposed amendments overturning the just-passed right to work law.
6 proposed amendments legalizing "medical" marijuana.
2 amendments legalizing all marijuana use.
5 amendments about "big game hunting."
2 amendments creating nonpartisan elections.
1 amendment each on absentee voting and employment discrimination.
12 petitions proposing law changes involving the minimum wage.
12 petitions proposing law changes about paid sick time.
There are at least minor differences in each proposal from the other, similar ones.
Historically, supporters generally have chosen only one petition to circulate around the state, to see how many signatures they can gather.