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

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.120 (2026)

Secretary of state to determine sufficiency of form and compliance

✓ current as of May 2026
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  116.120.  Secretary of state to determine sufficiency of form and compliance — invalid signatures not counted — signatures may be verified by random sampling, procedure and requirements. — 1.  When an initiative or referendum petition is submitted to the secretary of state, he or she shall examine the petition to determine whether it complies with the Constitution of Missouri and with this chapter.  Signatures on petition pages that have been collected by any person who is not properly registered with the secretary of state as a circulator shall not be counted as valid.  Signatures on petition pages that do not have the official ballot title affixed to the page shall not be counted as valid.  The secretary of state may verify the signatures on the petition by use of random sampling.  The random sample of signatures to be verified shall be drawn in such a manner that every signature properly filed with the secretary of state shall be given an equal opportunity to be included in the sample.  The process for establishing the random sample and determining the statistically valid result shall be established by the secretary of state.  Such a random sampling shall include an examination of five percent of the signatures.

  2.  If the random sample verification establishes that the number of valid signatures is less than ninety percent of the number of qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient in a congressional district, the petition shall be deemed to have failed to qualify in that district.  In finding a petition insufficient, the secretary of state does not need to verify all congressional districts on each petition submitted if verification of only one or more districts establishes the petition as insufficient.

  3.  If the random sample verification establishes that the number of valid signatures total more than one hundred ten percent of the number of qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient in a congressional district, the petition shall be deemed to qualify in that district.

  4.  If the random sampling shows the number of valid signatures within a congressional district is within ninety to one hundred ten percent of the number of signatures of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient in that district, the secretary of state shall order the examination and verification of each signature filed.

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(L. 1980 S.B. 658, A.L. 1988 S.B. 647, A.L. 1999 H.B. 676)

Effective 6-16-99

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 12 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1984–2024 · leading case: Am. Civil Liberties Union of Missouri & Sara E. Baker v. John R. Ashcroft, 577 S.W.3d 881 (Mo. Ct. App. 2019).
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Am. Civil Liberties Union of Missouri & Sara E. Baker v. John R. Ashcroft, 577 S.W.3d 881 (Mo. Ct. App. 2019). · cites it 17× “332; and (ii) the post- signature collection review of a submitted referendum petition and its signatures authorized by section 116.120. See Bradshaw v. Ashcroft, 559 S.”
Missourians to Protect the Initiative Process v. Blunt, 799 S.W.2d 824 (Mo. 1990). · cites it 16× “That case does not so state, nor is the claim consistent with a reasonable reading of § 116.120. Under that statute, the Secretary of State is charged with determining whether the petition "complies with the Constitution of Missouri and with this Chapter.”
Union Elec. Co. v. Kirkpatrick, 678 S.W.2d 402 (Mo. 1984). · cites it 14× “Brown, supra ; § 116.120, RSMo Cum. Supp.1983; cf. Kansas City v.”
Knight v. Carnahan, 282 S.W.3d 9 (Mo. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 7× “3 Ap *15 pellants alleged that under section 116.120, the Secretary of State was required to determine whether the initiative petition complied with the Missouri Constitution and the relevant provisions of chapter 116.”
Jim Boeving, Patty Arrowood, Robert E. Pund, & Robert A. Klein v. Missouri Sec'y of State Jason Kander, Raise Your Hand for Kids, & Erin Brower, 496 S.W.3d 498 (Mo. 2016). · cites it 2× “Finally, section 116.120 provides: When an initiative or referendum petition is submitted to the secretary of state, he or she shall examine the petition to determine whether it complies with the Constitution of Missouri and with this chapter.”
Ritter v. Mo. Sec'y of State John Ashcroft, 561 S.W.3d 74 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “The Blunt decision expressly holds that, as part of the Secretary of State's obligation to review an initiative petition for compliance with the Constitution, § 116.120 "necessarily requires the Secretary of State to examine the proposal to insure it does not contain multiple…”
Dotson v. Kander, 464 S.W.3d 190 (Mo. 2015). “190 controlled over the filing deadline in sections 116.120 and 116.200. Knight does not purport to resolve whether a plaintiff may bring a section 116.”
Ketcham v. Blunt, 847 S.W.2d 824 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992). · cites it 3× “To the argument that the case law prohibited the secretary of state from considering matters other than the sufficiency of the signatures, the court responded with the express provisions of Article 3, § 50 and § 116.120. Article 3, § 50, as noted, provides among other…”
Quinton Lucas v. Missouri Sec'y of State John R. Ashcroft & Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick (Mo. 2024). · cites it 2× “3d at 194 (holding, because section 116.120 states the election procedures in chapter 115 apply to elections on statewide ballot measures, “a challenge to the ballot title of a proposed constitutional amendment may be brought in a post-election action under chapter 115, so long…”
S.M.H. v. Eric Schmitt, Attorney Gen. of the State of Missouri, & Sarah Steelman, Comm'r of Admin., State of Missouri (Mo. Ct. App. 2020). “1100 does not expressly exclude Legal Expense Fund coverage for the Special Administrative Board of the Transitional School District, when such an express exclusion apparently applies to every other special administrative board which might be established in Missouri, is…”
Jacob Hummel v. John R. Ashcroft (Mo. Ct. App. 2022). “See §§ 116.120, 116.150, 116.180. The official ballot title consists of a brief summary statement of the measure and “a fiscal note summary assessing the measure’s financial impact.”
D. Samuel Dotson III & Rebecca Morgan v. Missouri Sec'y of State Jason Kander, Tom Dempsey, Timothy Jones, Ron Richard, Kurt Schaefer, & Missourians Protecting the 2nd Amendment, Intervenors. (Mo. 2015). “190 controlled over the filing deadline in sections 116.120 and 116.200. Knight does not purport to resolve whether a plaintiff may bring a section 116.”
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