Missouri is voting today. The big question on the ballot is whether or not Missouri will expand Medicaid to all adults earning under 138% FPL.
The Yes campaign has been active from getting signatures to get the question on the ballot to actively campaigning.
The No campaign has been fairly quiet except for taking advantage of the machinery of the state to increase barriers to voting by holding this vote on a mid-summer, mid-pandemic primary day instead of the general election.
Results should come in tonight.
If you are a registered voter in Missouri who has not yet voted, please go vote.
Punchy
As a Eastern Kansan, we get all the MO ads for and against expansion. Holy shit the dishonesty in both sides is stunning. The “Pro” side claims MO sends their tax $ to Cali and NY (classic red state boogeymen), which is complete BS. The “Anti” claim the illegals will destroy the whole health system. Like a good Kansan, Im rooting for many injuries, lawsuits, counter-suits, and complete exposure of the fraud that is the MO GOP.
IIRC, MO voters approved a Sunshine Law a few yrs back. The MO GOP simply refused to implement it. I suspect the same will happen here, should this pass.
clawback
The No side has been running a truly vile anti-immigrant campaign in which the furriners are going to be flooding our hospitals and we’ll be paying for it.
stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-if-the-truth-wont-defeat-amendment-2-let-lies-do-the-job/ar…
BC in Illinois
I’m here at the polls, for Jill Schupp, who’s running for Congress against Ann Wagner (R—safe Republican vote). (Jill is unopposed today, but I’m here with a sign from 6 to 9.) St Louis County has had a lot of “Vote Yes on Prop 2” (Medicaid expansion) signs, very few against. We shall see.
Note: BC in Illinois is now in Missouri.
Chat Noir
@BC in Illinois: Jill Schupp is my state senator! We’re in the MO-1 so can’t vote for her but my husband is doing some campaign script doctoring for her phone bank volunteers. Husband is also a poll manager — I told him he’s doing his part to help the cause of democracy.
Our little slice of St. Louis is very blue so quite a few Yes on 2 signs around here. Will go to the polls to cast my yes vote early afternoon
ETA: what a great way to celebrate President Obama’s 59th birthday — expand Medicaid into Missouri!
Frank Wilhoit
What’s the tally now of state Medicaid expansions that have been approved by vote but subsequently nullified by the state legislatures?
OzarkHillbilly
Mrs OHB and I will be heading for the polls in an hour or so. I haven’t seen much but 1 pro and 1 anti flyer in my mailbox, and 1 pro yard sign at my health clinic. Considering the number of anti Right to Work signs I saw a couple years ago when the GOP tried once again to shove it down our throats (they were everywhere out here), I am not hopeful. Unlike RtW which was also on a primary ballot, it appears to me the GOP has successfully buried this one. Maybe what healthcare in this state needs is a union, cause they sure can turnout the vote.
@Punchy: If you are speaking of the “Clean Missouri” amendment (campaign donation limitations, and an end to gerrymandering among others) which passed with 60+% in 2018, the reverse the “gutting of the amendment” measure is supposed to be on the ballot this November. I think. I have higher hopes for that one.
Barbara
@Frank Wilhoit: I think there is only really one, and that is Nebraska. Oklahoma has not implemented expansion but the referendum just passed, so it’s too soon to say for sure. Others have tried to partially nullify by creating some kind of hybrid public private scheme.
Here is a link: kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/
This is the first place I go to when I want to understand the status of health care reform proposals and Medicaid expansion.
Geminid
@Punchy: A more nuanced version of the “tax dollars going to California” argument would just emphasize the tax dollars that are not coming into Missouri because Medicaid has not been expanded. That argument was used to good effect here in Virginia when we expanded Medicaid in 2017. But I can’t fault the Pro Expansion people in Missouri for playing on people’s prejudices. They are fighting fire with fire, and I don’t think their campaign’s messaging will have any long term effects beyond hopefully getting Medicaid coverage for a lot of Missourians. Virginia has added 400,000 residents to Medicaid since 2017, just in time for the pandemic.
Elizabelle
@ Chat Noir and Ozark and Mrs. Ozark:
Yea you! Thank you for voting for Medicaid expansion in Misery. I hope it passes.
artem1s
@Frank Wilhoit:
I think Maine had vote multiple times because of LePage vetoing state bills
fake irishman
@Frank Wilhoit:
Really, none.
rikyrah
Hoping for positive results for my fellow citizens in Missouri.
GregMulka
The first No sign for 2 I saw was outside my polling place. I thought about asking for the rethug ballot just for a preemptive vote against Wagner but decided against it.
Soprano2
I’ll be voting for it this afternoon. I haven’t seem much about it either; I think they figure it’ll already lose in my part of the state, although they might be surprised. I don’t think rural people are as against it as Republicans think they are. I’m in Crystal Quade’s district as far as the state House, so that’s all good. Unfortunately, I’m also in Billy Long’s district; he’s the auctioneer in the House of Reps. I joked that now they have an actual auctioneer to sell their votes to the highest bidder. He ran on the message that he was “Fed Up” when he first got elected. My husband says he’s “Too Well Fed” now. LOL
I have high hopes that MO voters will reject the Republican lege’s attempt to fuck with Clean Missouri. It passed with 62% of the vote in 2018. That’s going to be a nasty fight, though; Republicans feel like they’re fighting for their lives because, as usual, they can’t win as much if the districts are drawn fairly. (Clean MO is about state house districts, it has nothing to do with the federal ones.)
matryoshka
I am a Missourian who voted a couple of hours ago. Everyone who was there at the same time I was requested Democratic ballots! I have seen lots of “Yes on 2” signs around here. Having worked in a Medicaid health home clinic a few years back, I am confident that doctors have been chatting this up with people and affirming the benefits for all. I got all my immediate neighbors on board. I feel hopeful, possibly optimistic, which is not my normal these days.
Marcopolo
Everyone in my household voted for this via in-person absentee voting three weeks ago.
While I am happy to hear that other Missourian BJers are getting out to vote today, I strongly urge you all to vote as early as you can for the Presidential election on Nov. 3rd. You can request your absentee ballot on Sept. 20–or if you live in St Louis County you can in-person absentee vote at the Board of Elections any time from that date to the election. Plan ahead, you never know what might happen like my next door neighbor going into the hospital for emergency heart surgery. I spoke with his sister this morning and he came through the operation but he definitely isn’t voting.
Mart
@Punchy: I thought that Pro ad was a brilliant use of right wing tropes, and they did not lie. The ad says billions of MO tax dollars go to DC, where the money is sent to states like NY and CA. Like to see more like it.
My high risk Covid vote by mail ballot made it Yes on 2, my wife’s was bounced. Forgot a check mark on confirm address or some BS.