Friend,

One of the questions I get the most is what's going on with the ballot initiatives related to reproductive health care. For months, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Attorney General Andrew Bailey have illegally delayed the process by which Missourians can collect signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

Under our state constitution, we the People have the right to draft laws and constitutional amendments, collect plenty of signatures, and put those issues up to a vote of the People.

After Missouri implemented an extreme abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest - one that even President Donald Trump disagreed with - several versions of initiatives to undo that ban were submitted to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State writes a summary that appears on the ballot, the Auditor writes a fiscal note, and the Attorney General is supposed to double-check both for form.

First, Andrew Bailey refused to approve the Republican state Auditor's assessment that the initiatives would not impose a cost on taxpayers. That delayed the process for months, at the end of which the courts told Bailey that he was illegally denying Missourians the right to access the initiative petition process.

Second, Jay Ashcroft wrote a horrifically biased summary for the ballot initiatives. Lawsuits to challenge his summary couldn't start until Andrew Bailey's moonlighting as King of Missouri was cleaned up. A trial judge found that almost the entire summary had to be rewritten. Ashcroft and Bailey appealed, delaying the process again. They argued at the court of appeals on Monday. On Tuesday, the court issued a ruling:

"... the Secretary’s summary statements do not fairly describe the purposes and probable effects of the initiatives. The Secretary’s summary statements are replete with politically partisan language. After removal of the inaccurate and partisan language of the Secretary’s summary statements, the circuit court was left with largely unworkable summary statements. The circuit court was authorized to write alternative language to fulfill its responsibility that a fair and sufficient summary statement be certified."

Of course, that's not going to stop Ashcroft and Bailey. They're already promising to appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, which will further delay the process even if Ashcroft and Bailey lose again.

By the time this is done, Missourians will have 3-4 months to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures. That's less than half the time we were supposed to have. It's doable, but it's going to be much more difficult.

Ashcroft and Bailey both know that Missouri's extreme abortion ban is unpopular. That's why they don't want the People of Missouri voting on it. And they're willing to abuse the power of their offices to deny us our constitutional right to the ballot.

I believe in efficient government that stays out of our private lives as much as possible. I don't support Big Government surveillance and control, especially when it comes to health care.

But whether you agree with me or not, what Ashcroft and Bailey are doing isn't limited to abortion. It can be used on any issue that any future Secretary of State or Attorney General disagrees with.

They could use this same method to pass anything their big donors want that Missourians do not and then prevent us from overturning whatever they've done. These same abuses will be used to reduce our rights on the job, eliminate protections for our land and water, and allow scam companies to exploit vulnerable Missourians.

I'll keep you updated as litigation continues.

Elad