Missouri voters are beginning to head to the polls to weigh in on the 2026 midterm elections. 

Voters are casting ballots to elect representatives to the U.S. House, state General Assembly and five statewide ballot measures. 

To help you understand your ballot, The Beacon has compiled a guide to November’s ballot measures and what a “yes” or  “no” vote means for each. 

Amendment 3: Prohibit abortion and gender transition procedures for minors 

Amendment 3 may look familiar to Missourians who voted in 2024.

The question aims to repeal a constitutional amendment, approved by voters that year, that  enshrined the “right to reproductive freedom” into the Missouri Constitution and laid the legal groundwork to reestablish abortion access in the state. 

The Missouri General Assembly moved to put the issue before voters again this year.

Amendment 3 would repeal the reproductive freedom amendment Missourians passed in 2024 to allow abortions only in cases of a medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest. 

The measure would also put a ban on gender transition procedures and cross-sex or puberty-blocking hormones for minors into the state constitution. Lawmakers have already passed laws banning both methods of gender-affirming care in 2023. Adding a ban to the state constitution would further cement it, requiring another statewide vote to make any changes. 

A ‘yes’ vote on Amendment 3 would: 

-Repeal the constitutional “right to reproductive freedom,” which Missouri voters enshrined in the state constitution in 2024. 

-Bar abortions except in cases of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest.

-Add a ban on gender transition surgeries for minors, as well as the prescription or administration of puberty-blocking drugs to minors, to the state constitution.

A ‘no’ vote on Amendment 3 would: 

-Keep the 2024 constitutional “right to reproductive freedom,” prohibiting state lawmakers from banning abortion outright. 

-Reject adding language to the state constitution to ban gender transition procedures and puberty-blocking hormones to minors. 

Amendment 6: Initiative and referendum powers and legislative change requirements 

Missouri voters put this constitutional amendment on the ballot through the state’s initiative petition process. It would make it harder for Missouri lawmakers to change laws that voters passed using the initiative process. 

Currently, if voters propose and pass new state laws through a petition and a statewide vote, lawmakers can amend those laws through the legislative process.

For example, in 2024 Missouri voters passed Proposition A, which required employers to offer one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked and required minimum-wage increases based on the consumer price index. In 2025, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill into law that overturned most parts of the voter-approved ballot measure. 

Amendment 6 would give the final say back to voters. If lawmakers wanted to change a law that voters approved at the ballot, they’d need at least 80% of the Missouri House and Senate to refer that proposed change back to voters, who would then approve or reject the change in a future election. 

A ‘yes’ vote on Amendment 6 would: 

-Require at least 80% approval in both the Missouri House and Senate, followed by voter approval, before lawmakers could change a law passed by citizen initiative. 

-Allow courts to revise ballot summaries through lawsuits. 

-Enshrine that the initiative and referendum process is a fundamental right in Missouri .

-Preserve current signature requirements for citizen-led initiatives and the simple-majority requirements for initiatives and referendums to pass.

-Ban the legislature from weakening the citizen-led constitutional amendment or referendum process through methods like raising signature thresholds, shortening signature gathering periods, narrowing subjects allowed to be on the ballot or creating additional requirements for signature gatherers. 

A ‘no’ vote on Amendment 6 would: 

-Oppose the initiative that would require 80% support in the Missouri House and Senate and voter approval to change a voter-passed citizen initiative or referendum. 

-Leave the state constitution as it is, allowing lawmakers to change or repeal laws that voters passed through the citizen initiative process.

Amendment 7: Creating the Show Me Prosperity Investment Fund for state tax reduction and elimination 

Voters will also cast their ballots on Amendment 7, which would create a permanent public endowment fund managed by the state to generate revenue. Eventually, backers say, the state would use the revenue to eliminate state taxes. 

The Missouri General Assembly would be responsible for deciding how — and how much — money is put into the fund, which is often described as a sovereign wealth fund. The state treasurer would be required to invest the money to exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 or similar. 

Under the measure, none of the money would be appropriated until the fund earns enough annually to replace revenue generated by state taxes. It would also require that the money be used only to eliminate state taxes. After the taxes are eliminated, the amendment would also bar reinstating them, unless the fund does not have enough money to meet funding obligations. 

A ‘yes’ vote on Amendment 7 would: 

-Create a permanent public endowment fund managed by the state to generate revenue, and use the earnings of the fund to later eliminate state taxes once the fund has generated enough money to replace them. 

A ‘no’ vote on Amendment 7 would: 

-Oppose creating a public endowment fund governed by the General Assembly with the eventual goal of replacing state taxes. 

Amendment 8: Require the election of county sheriffs 

Amendment 8 would require most Missouri counties to elect their sheriff every four years and would enshrine certain duties for sheriffs into the state constitution, such as preserving the peace, suppressing riots, attending certain court proceedings, carrying out court orders and hiring deputies and employees. 

Currently, sheriffs are elected every four years in Missouri and their duties are laid out in state law. 

The amendment would offer exemptions for St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. 

A ‘yes’ vote on Amendment 8 would: 

-Put the existing requirement that voters elect sheriffs every four years into the Missouri Constitution.

-Establish sheriffs as the chief law enforcement officer in the county and designate them specific duties. 

-Limit the removal of sheriffs from office. 

A ‘no’ vote on Amendment 8 would: 

-Leave current state laws requiring sheriff elections every four years, setting their duties and procedures for removal from office in place without changes to the state constitution. 

Proposition A: Mid-decade redistricting 

Missourians will also vote on Proposition A, a citizen-led referendum process that asks voters to weigh in on mid-decade congressional redistricting. 

Missouri lawmakers were called to a special session in 2025 by Gov. Mike Kehoe to redraw the state’s congressional maps to more heavily favor Republican outcomes at the urging of President Donald Trump. 

As a result, Missouri lawmakers passed House Bill 1 in 2025, which redrew lines for congressional districts around the Kansas City area. The map split Missouri Congressional District 5, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, into several surrounding districts. 

Several judges ruled the map could not be used for this November’s elections and directed the state to use a map passed in 2022 after the 2020 Census. Republicans hoped the 2025 map under House Bill 1 would have allowed them to gain a seventh Republican-represented U.S. House seat. 

A ‘yes’ vote on Proposition A would: 

-Approve House Bill 1, allowing Missouri’s 2025 congressional map to take effect for future elections. 

A ‘no’ vote on Proposition A would: 

-Reject House Bill 1 and keep the congressional district boundaries enacted in 2022.