The Forum

In previous editions of The Forum covering the 2024 general election, I reported that Amendment 7 would force the City of St. Louis, which has used a voting method called approval voting since 2020, to revert to the first-past-the-post voting standard, which it previously used. This was false, as St. Louis was exempted from certain provisions of the amendment that would have restricted the city’s distinct voting method. Amendment 7, which passed overwhelmingly in the Nov. 5, 2024 election, banned ranked-choice voting and other forms of non-first-past-the-post voting as well as enshrined a ban on non-citizens voting into the Missouri Constitution.

The full text of Amendment 7, which is different from the short title and description that appeared on ballots, included multiple sections that specify that they “shall not apply to any nonpartisan municipal election held in a city that had an ordinance in effect as of November 5, 2024.” Municipalities that had already adopted electoral systems that would violate the new constitutional amendment prior to its approval in the Nov. 5, 2024 election will be allowed to continue using those systems because of these grandfather clauses in the text of the amendment. These grandfather clauses were not present in Amendment 7’s ballot text, so I did not realize this fact until after the election as I prepared to cover the upcoming St. Louis mayoral election. I apologize for this oversight, and I should have read the full amendment as it was published by the Missouri legislature, not just the ballot text and news reporting that covered it.