Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey visited Perryville a little over a week ago, on the same day as the release of results from a September poll undertaken by Public Opinion Strategies (POS) showing “overwhelming support” for Amendment 7, also known as the “Only Citizens Vote and Only Vote Once Amendment.”
The amendment appears on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Bailey, who was the guest of honor at a reception held Oct. 9 at Richardet Floor Covering, survived a tough primary challenge in August from Will Scharf, a member of former president Donald Trump’s legal team, to win the GOP nomination for a full term in office.
According to POS, the margin of the poll indicated two to one — 68 percent to 28 percent — support for making the Missouri Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote.
Bailey and Republican State Treasurer Vivek Malek, who is a first-generation American, are quoted in the press release as expressing their support for Amendment 7.
At the reception, Bailey was asked about his thoughts regarding the “Only Citizens Vote” amendment.
He said, “I think people overwhelmingly support the idea that you should be an American citizen to be able to vote in an American election. I would not be allowed to go vote in an election in Peru nor would I have the expectation that I would have the right to do that. These elections are about laws that impact our country and our people. Citizenship should be a prerequisite for participating in those elections.
“I did two missions in Iraq, one of which was to secure the border between Iraq and Syria. The second, when I was a platoon leader in Iraq in 2005, was to secure an Iraqi election. If we can protect a border in Iraq and the integrity of an election in Iraq, we have the moral obligation and should do that here in the United States of America in 2024. I think Missourians are behind me on that issue.”
The POS expresses the need for the state amendment’s passage, stating that “19 cities in California, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., are currently allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, with a 20th city (Santa Ana, California) deciding on Nov. 5th whether to allow non-citizens to vote.” The statement goes on to say that “the measure also prohibits ranked choice voting and requires the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election.”
Opponents of the proposed amendment say that, while backers claim its main purpose is to stop non-citizens from voting — something they contend the Missouri constitution already bans — its real purpose is to end ranked choice voting in the state (RCV).
The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center describes RCV as “an election method in which voters rank candidates for an office in order of their preference — first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on. Ranking candidates is different from simply selecting one candidate or what is known as plurality voting.
“If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, that candidate wins, just like in any other election. However, if there is no majority winner after counting the first choices, the race is decided by an instant runoff. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who ranked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes count for their next choice. This process continues until a majority winner, a candidate with more than half of the vote, wins.”
According to its website, POS, founded in 1991, is a national political and public affairs research firm headquartered in Alexandria, Va. It claims to have conducted 11 million interviews with voters and consumers in all 50 states and over two dozen foreign countries.
POS states that “the September 2024 poll surveyed 600 registered Missouri voters, with a margin of error of 4 percent, about their opinions on Amendment 7. The amendment was passed by the General Assembly during the 2024 legislative session. It was sponsored by State Senator Ben Brown and State Representative Ben Baker, both Republicans.”
In addition to giving his opinion on the passage of Amendment 7, Bailey touted a 133 percent increase he achieved in criminal prosecutions during his first year in office; his ongoing fight against fentanyl and human trafficking; forcing the Biden-Harris administration to resume building the wall along the Mexican border; and ousting St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner from office.
