Abortion, sports gambling make November ballot in Missouri; Lake-area casino rejected

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A question to legalize abortion will be on the November ballot but one to award a license for a riverboat casino on the Lake of the Ozarks will not.

The Missouri Secretary of State's Office said Tuesday -- the deadline to approve initiative petitions for the ballot -- that the abortion question would be on the November ballot. Questions to raise the minimum wage and guarantee sick leave and to legalize sports gambling in Missouri will also be on the ballot.

A petition to establish a new gambling license for a Lake of the Ozarks-area casino, however, failed to get the required number of signatures in each of Missouri's six congressional districts.

Missourians for Constitutional Democracy, proponents for abortion rights, held a press conference over Zoom following the announcement.

"This is a monumental achievement for our campaign and a significant step forward for the rights of all Missourians," said Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for the organization. "Over 380,000 Missourians from all 114 counties signed their names and joined this historic effort to end our state's abortion ban."

The Missouri ballot measure would create a right to abortion until a fetus could likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures. Fetal viability generally has been considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy but has shifted downward with medical advances. The ballot measure would allow abortions after fetal viability if a health care professional determines it’s necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America sent a statement to ABC 17 News stating their disappointment in the decision.

“The abortion lobby’s ballot measure would end thousands of lives. Unborn children who have heartbeats, feel pain, suck their thumbs, smile and even survive outside of the womb will no longer be protected in Missouri if this extreme measure passes. Missouri would become as radical as California in allowing horrific late-term abortions and forcing the taxpayer to fund them," the statement says.

Campaign committees supporting the abortion-rights and sports betting measures each already have spent more than $5 million, with millions more in spending expected. The sports betting initiative has been financed largely by the parent companies of DraftKings and FanDuel but also is backed by Missouri's six professional sports teams, which would control onsite betting and advertising near their stadiums and arenas.

The minimum wage measure would increase the state's current rate of $12.30 an hour to $13.75 an hour in 2025 and $15 an hour by 2026, with annual adjustments for inflation after that. It also would require employers to provide paid sick leave.

Joe Chevalier, owner of the Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia and supporter of the minimum wage petition, said he thinks its important to protect Missouri's workforce and thinks the measure would help.

"I've always been in favor of keeping the wages rising because I see how low they are in comparison to other states," Chevalier said.

The minimum wage petition received more than 300,000 signatures, which Chevalier says is telling of how Missourians feel about this petition.

"It tells me that a lot of Missourians support this measure and not just people in Saint Louis or Kansas City or Columbia, but all over the state, are in favor of this, tt's not just, urban versus rural thing," said Chevalier.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft thinks the state would be better off without initiative petitions.

"I think that our government was designed for us to go through the legislature, for us to have open discussion, to have open debate, to make sure that people are well versed with what's going on," Ashcroft said. "I think that's a far better way actually, than the initiative petition process for either amending our Constitution or changing statutes."

May was the deadline for people to submit signatures. Thousands of signatures were turned in for petitions on reproductive health care, sports betting, minimum wage increase and a casino development near the Lake of the Ozarks.

To submit their paperwork, petitioners had to show the number of pages per county and contact information for each petition.

Petition pages are copied and distributed to local election authorities for signature verification. The Secretary of State's Office can either verify every signature or use random sampling and instructions.

If all signatures are verified, the petitions appear on the ballot in November.

Political experts weigh in on effects of abortion initiative

Some political experts say the addition of the question to legalize abortion on the November ballot could drive up voter turnout in Missouri.

Charles Zug -- an assistant political professor of political science at the University of Missouri -- said while the question could lead to more people showing up to polls in November, it likely wont effect the state's overall vote.

"Even if some people who wouldn't otherwise vote turned out to vote for the abortion issue, there's no reason to think that they would even know, or care that much about the other issues on the ballot...or the other officials, or to think that they might not vote Republican for those other issues," Zug said.

Zug said the addition doesn't necessarily mean democratic candidates will win.

In a statement sent to ABC 17 News via text message, Political Communication Institute Co-Director Ben Warner said he expects the initiative to outperform Democratic candidates.

"But, some candidates may find some success tying their opponent to unpopular abortion policies if their record or past statements are out of step with voters turning out to support the ballot initiative," the statement reads. "The Republicans have a big head start though, most/all of them will be hard to catch."

Zug also said Democratic candidates, such as nominee for governor Crystal Quade could try and use the initiative to her advantage.

"In order to try to drive up voter turnout, that might not otherwise happen if this issue wasn't on the ballot, and maybe ultimately try to convince some people to to support the Democratic Party across the ticket," Zug said.

In a statement sent to ABC 17 News from Mike Kehoe's campaign, Kehoe -- who is the Republican nominee in the gubernatorial race -- said he expects Missourians to reject the measure.

"As a father of four, Mike Kehoe knows how precious life is. That's why he is committed to working with anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and partner with him to build a stronger and more prosperous Missouri for the generations to come," the statement said. "Mike Kehoe opposes the radical Left’s attempts to rewrite Missouri’s long history of protecting life. This extreme proposal funded by out-of-state liberals will radically change our laws and Lt. Governor Kehoe believes Missouri voters will strongly reject this measure in November."

Quade said in a statement she thinks the initiative will allow Missourians to vote to restore their rights.

"Within 15 minutes of the fall of Roe, Missouri Republicans, led by extremists like Mike Kehoe cheered as the rights of women all across Missouri were stripped away. We have seen too many stories of women in danger, seeking medical care, and sent home to bleed out because they weren’t close enough to death. This November Missourians will vote to restore their rights and elect a governor who will keep the government out of their personal lives and ensure this ballot initiative gets implemented to its fullest extent," the statement says.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.