Opponents of the measure argued a misleading summary of the measure was on petitions used to gather signatures for it, but the court said it has no authority to take it off the ballot.
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Should Missouri voters approve the initiative, the nation’s lowest tobacco tax would increase from 17 cents to 77 cents per pack over four years.
Missouri voters will decide in November whether a controversial measure raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes by sixty cents will become law. But supporters including the attorney who helped get the measure on the ballot say the opportunity to get more money to early childhood programs is the key part of the measure.
Proponents of the measure argued that taking it off the ballot would violate backers’ constitutional right to use the initiative petition process.
Raise Your Hand for Kids would raise fees on off-brand cigarette makers who now are not covered by a big settlement reached between states and tobacco companies in the late 1990’s.
Their main contention is that a summary rewritten by an appeals court didn’t match up with the one presented to registered voters who signed to get it on the ballot.
Missouri’s Secretary Of State authorized the statewide question based on all the petitions, and the state’s Supreme Court Justices agreed with that decision. Signatures from at least 8 percent of legal voters in six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts are needed to send a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot.
“There will be time enough for such claims after the election, if Missouri voters find Amendment No. 3 to their liking”, the court found.
“They would never review a law before it was passed or signed by the governor, and I think they wanted to be more in line with that”, Dueker said.
A group backing a proposed medical marijuana ballot measure seems to be done fighting to get the issue on November’s general election ballot.
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A lawsuit aimed at knocking it off the ballot is pending in circuit court.
