Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft struggled to justify his threat to have President Joe Biden removed from the state’s electoral ballot, citing allegations of insurrection without providing specifics when pressed for evidence. Ashcroft's attempt to compare Biden's situation to Trump's removal from state ballots over the Capitol riot and election result challenges fell flat, highlighting the lack of substance in his claims.
The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's appeal to defend his ballot summary for initiative petitions seeking to legalize abortion in the state constitution. Ashcroft's summaries were criticized for containing politically partisan language, and the court upheld a previous decision in favor of the ACLU and physician Anna Fitz-James, who challenged the language. Ashcroft argued that his summaries accurately reflected the petitions' scope, but the court disagreed. Proponents of the abortion initiatives have not yet announced which version they will move forward with in collecting signatures. Another attempt to get abortion on the 2024 ballot has been filed by Jamie Corey, who is also suing Ashcroft over the ballot summary for her original initiative petitions.
Republican judge Jon Beetem in Missouri has ruled against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's misleading and inaccurate summaries for proposed abortion-rights ballot initiatives. Ashcroft, who is running for governor, attempted to block access to the ballot initiative process by distorting the truth. The Missouri Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Beetem's rewritten summaries, stating that Ashcroft's summaries were insufficient, unfair, inaccurate, and misleading. Ashcroft and his ally Attorney General Andrew Bailey plan to appeal the decision. The case highlights the importance of fair and accurate wording for ballot initiatives, allowing voters to make informed decisions.
A Missouri appeals court has ruled against Republican-written ballot summaries that described abortion-rights amendments as allowing "dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth." The court found the summaries to be politically partisan and largely upheld rewritten summaries that were more impartial. Ballot summaries are used to help voters understand constitutional amendments and policy changes. Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who wrote the original summaries, plans to appeal the ruling.
