Last month, I wrote about how legislative Republicans said their #1 priority is to make it harder for voters to approve ballot items by eliminating ‘one person, one vote’ and counting some people’s votes more than others. Under the GOP’s legislation, even if 75% of voters approve raising the minimum wage, it could be defeated by just 25% of votes cast depending on who cast them.
As you can imagine, this proposal is widely unpopular. That’s why Republicans have now said they plan on burying their proposal underneath “Ballot Candy”.
“Ballot Candy” is when popular things are listed at the top of a ballot, in hopes that voters won’t read all the way to the bottom. It would be like putting “Do you want apple pie and baseball” at the very top, with “and also a kick to the teeth” at the bottom.
In the Senate, the Republican bill sponsor said: “there is absolutely Ballot Candy in this . . .” Thankfully, Senate Democrats held the floor for 21 hours to remove the “Ballot Candy”. As this legislation works though the House, I look forward to exposing this blatant attempt to trick voters
Representative Robert E. Sauls, a Democrat, represents the eastern part of Independence in Jackson County (District 21) in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2018.
Prior to his legislative duties, Sauls was a Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney and a public defender. He also served as an assistant staff judge advocate in the United States Air Force.
Sauls graduated from William Chrisman High School in 1998. He received a bachelor’s degree in International Business from William Jewell College in 2002 and a juris doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2008.
Born in Independence, Sauls is a fourth generation resident and currently resides there with his son, Jackson.
