The campaign to place a ban on affirmative action on Missouri’s November state ballot failed to produce enough signatures by the required deadline on Sunday. The so-called “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative,” would have banned affirmative action for women and people of color in public education, public employment, and public contracting.
“I think Missourians spoke loudly and clearly and rejected this initiative, and rejected the politics that it represents. I think this taught us that real grass-roots efforts can yield results even in the face of well-financed, monied interest,” said Brandon Davis, a spokesman Working to Empower Community Action Now, a coalition of labor unions and worker advocates that began organizing last year against the initiative, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Missouri is one of five states that Ward Connerly targeted with anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives. The measure has also been defeated in Oklahoma. It was approved for the ballot in Colorado, and the campaigns continue in Nebraska and Arizona, according to Inside Higher Ed.
