Letter to the Editor

Vote 'yes' on Amendment 3

On Election Day, we hope that many will join us in voting yes on Amendment 3. Amendment 3 seeks to right the wrongs of the Clean Missouri Amendment which misled voters in our last election. The 2018 amendment gave the Missouri State Auditor -- not the Secretary of State, who is the state's election authority, or the Attorney General, who enforces the laws of the state -- the power of appointing a state demographer. The state demographer is charged with drawing legislative districts based on partisan "fairness" and "competitiveness."

While this sounds good, it presents very real problems. When you combine current voting preferences with the redistricting criteria in the 2018 amendment, the state demographer will have the nearly impossible task of drawing competitive districts. The only way to achieve competitive districts will be to separate small portions of the state's urban centers and link them to larger areas of rural Missouri. Think of a wheel hub and spokes. This is what legislative districts will look like. These districts won't provide real representation to either rural or urban districts.

Let's send a clear message on Election Day by passing Amendment 3 and ensuring that Missourians are represented by those in their local communities.

Cape Girardeau County Farm Bureau Board of Directors: Laura Nothdurft, Scott Jahn, David Gholson, Kenny Spooler, Adam Birk, Debbie Birk, Susan Hahs, Joe Hobbs, Doug Ludwig, Rex Meyr, Valerie Petzoldt, Lisa Reitzel and Josh Walther.