Missouri voters have approved lawmakers' efforts to overturn part of Clean Missouri by a narrow margin.
With 98 percent of votes counted statewide, the majority of voters had cast their votes in favor of Amendment 3, according to unofficial results from the Missouri Secretary of State's Office.
In May, less than two years after voters passed Clean Missouri by almost a 2-1 margin, legislators put a plan to overturn their choice on the ballot.
With 100 percent of ballots counted, the amendment had received 1,471,892 "yes" votes (51.017 percent) and 1,413,223 "no" votes (48.983 percent).
Amendment 3 changes the redistricting process Missouri voters approved in 2018 by transferring responsibility for drawing state legislative districts from the nonpartisan state demographer to governor-appointed bipartisan commissions, modifying and reordering the redistricting criteria.
It bans gifts from lobbyists to legislators and their employees.
Amendment 3 reduces legislative campaign contributions.
Supporters of Amendment 3 say it prevents gerrymandering and prevents lobbyists from giving gifts to lawmakers or their employees.
Opponents of the measure say it overturns the voter-approved Clean Missouri and protects elected officials' bases of power by creating gerrymandered maps.
"We are of course very disappointed that the politicians' lies and deception appear to have been effective enough to pass Amendment 3," Clean Missouri campaign officials said in a statement. "Thousands of volunteers from across the state and across the political spectrum have been working for years to pass and then defend fair redistricting rules in our constitution, and today we came up short. "
The coalition that passed Clean Missouri will continue to be engaged in the 2021 redistricting process, the statement noted.
Among the changes Amendment 3 makes is to remove a large percentage of the population when counting for district maps.
The amendment reduces contributions that can be made to state Senate candidates by $100 per election (from $2,500 to $2,400). It does not change limits for state representatives.
The current dollar limit for gifts lobbyists present to state legislators and their employees is $5. The amendment prohibits the gifts.
Missouri voters also rejected Amendment 1, which would have limited the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor to two four-year terms in office. Currently, only the governor and treasurer are restricted to eight years in office.
Amendment 1 was being defeated with 52.62 percent of voters (1,377,425 votes) against it and 46.38 percent (1,240,369) in favor, with 3,540 of 3,692 of precincts reporting statewide just after midnight Tuesday.
This article was updated at 12:50 a.m. Nov. 4, 2020, with new information.
See also:
November 3, 2020, General Election Results Here are results from statewide and Mid-Missouri elections, as well as election wrap-up stories.