Mo. Rev. Stat. » Chapter 116
Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.090 (2026)

Petition signature fraud, penalty

✓ current as of May 2026
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  116.090.  Petition signature fraud, penalty. — 1.  Any person who commits any of the following actions is guilty of the crime of petition signature fraud:

  (1)  Signs any name other than his or her own to any petition, or who knowingly signs his or her name more than once for the same measure for the same election, or who knows he or she is not at the time of signing or circulating the same a Missouri registered voter and a resident of this state; or

  (2)  Intentionally submits petition signature sheets with the knowledge that the person whose name appears on the signature sheet did not actually sign the petition; or

  (3)  Causes a voter to sign a petition other than the one the voter intended to sign; or

  (4)  Forges or falsifies signatures; or

  (5)  Knowingly accepts or offers money or anything of value to another person in exchange for a signature on a petition.

  2.  Any person who knowingly causes a petition circulator's signatures to be submitted for counting, and who either knows that such circulator has violated subsection 1 of this section or, after receiving notice of facts indicating that such person may have violated subsection 1 of this section, causes the signatures to be submitted with reckless indifference as to whether such circulator has complied with subsection 1 of this section, shall also be deemed to have committed the crime of petition signature fraud.

  3.  A person who violates subsection 1 or 2 of this section, shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section 560.021* to the contrary, by a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both.

  4.  Any person employed by or serving as an election authority, that has reasonable cause to suspect a person has committed petition signature fraud, shall immediately report or cause a report to be made to the appropriate prosecuting authorities.  Failure to so report or cause a report to be made shall be a class A misdemeanor.

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(L. 1980 S.B. 658, A.L. 1999 H.B. 676, A.L. 2013 H.B. 117)

*Section 560.021 was repealed by S.B. 491, 2014, effective 1-01-17.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1992–2022 · leading case: Ketcham v. Blunt, 847 S.W.2d 824 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992).
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Ketcham v. Blunt, 847 S.W.2d 824 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992). “These included signatures which were forged or otherwise executed by persons other than the purported signers in violation of § 116.090. The required deletions reduced the number of valid signatures from that district below the 16,190 sufficiency to qualify the petitions from…”
Scott Fitzpatrick, in his Off. capacity as Missouri State Treasurer v. John R. Ashcroft, in his Off. capacity as Missouri Sec'y of State, 640 S.W.3d 110 (Mo. Ct. App. 2022). · cites it 2× “According to the Treasurer, the only penalty imposed by section 116.090 is in subsection 5, which deems a section 116.”
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