DON'T MESS WITH INITIATIVE LAW IN MISSOURI

The Missouri House has approved a plan to increase the necessary majority for statewide initiative issues to two-thirds from the current and historic simple majority of 50 percent plus 1. If this bill gets serious consideration from the Senate, the proposed change would be presented to voters.

Interestingly, the vote on a plan to increase the required majority for initiatives would require only a simply majority for approval.

The concern, according to the bill's sponsor, Wayne Crump of Potosi, is that it's too easy for well-financed special-interest groups to win voter approval of ideas that are truly limited in scope or effect on most Missourians. The example used during floor debate was last year's initiative vote on the cockfighting ban, which was approved.

The difference between an initiative and a referendum is simple: Initiatives are issues placed on the ballot by gathering signatures, while referendums are issues placed on the ballot by the Legislature. Neither should be confused with constitutional amendments, which deal with the provisions of the state's Constitution.

Crump's bill wouldn't change the majority required for referendums items placed on the ballot by the Legislature, only initiatives limited -- so far -- to fish, wildlife and forestry concerns.

In the first place, it seems odd that the scope of the change would be limited so narrowly to just a few topics. If the concern is about frivolous initiatives, why wouldn't Crump and his supporters seek a supermajority for all initiatives?

But more important may be the premise of his bill, which assumes Missouri voters don't want to be bothered with having to make a lot of decisions at the ballot box. Requiring a supermajority, the bill's backers believe, would curtail the number of initiatives doomed to failure.

But Missourians have never complained about voting, at least not those who take voting seriously and go to the polls every opportunity they have. Sometimes the various issues as presented on ballots can be confusing, but most serious voters have a good idea when they go into the voting booth how they want to vote on initiatives, referendums and constitutional amendments.

Finally, the concern that money can buy any election just doesn't hold water. Look at the referendum last month on the right of Missourians to carry concealed weapons. Proponents of Proposition B outspent opponents 4 to 1 during the heated campaign. Even though Prop B only required only a simple majority, it failed.

Missourians have a time-honored tradition in initiatives that many states don't have. Let's not tinker with a process that has served the state well and has given voters ample opportunities to participate in the making of laws that govern us all.