Missouri voters head to the polls on Nov. 3 to decide a constitutional amendment that would require most counties to elect their sheriffs and would make it significantly harder to remove one from office. Amendment 8 would lock the sheriff's office into the Missouri Constitution and require the state attorney general to initiate any quo warranto case seeking a sheriff's removal, with a judge deciding whether the sheriff could be removed, cutting local circuit attorneys and county prosecutors out of that process entirely.
As The Kansas City Star reports, a yes vote would enshrine sheriffs' duties and electoral processes in the state constitution and would limit removal to a writ of quo warranto brought by the attorney general — a legal action that challenges a person's right to hold public office. A no vote would leave current Missouri statutes in place unless the General Assembly changes them. A statewide vote would be required to alter that constitutional language in the future, a much higher bar than amending ordinary statutes.
Under the amendment, county sheriffs would be elected to four-year terms and designated as a county's chief law enforcement officer, according to Ballotpedia News. The measure would also place certain sheriff duties directly in the constitution, including responsibility for preserving the peace, suppressing riots and disturbances, and apprehending and jailing felons and traitors. Most Missouri counties already elect sheriffs every four years under existing statute, according to KCUR, so the amendment's biggest practical shift is constitutionalizing the office rather than creating something new.
Who's Exempt, and Why St. Louis Looks Different
St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County would be exempt from Amendment 8's election requirement, per the Star's reporting. Those three jurisdictions appoint their sheriffs through local officials rather than putting the office on the ballot. St. Louis County voters approved the measure replacing the sheriff's office with a county police department in 1955, the station's report notes, while St. Charles County made a similar change in 2012 that took effect in 2015, and its sheriff is appointed by local officials.
For Kansas City-area counties, the amendment would change little day to day, since they already elect their sheriffs, the same outlet reports. The bigger stakes lie in how a sheriff could be removed once in office — and who gets to try.
Quo Warranto: The Only Path to Removal
Currently, a quo warranto action must be filed by either the attorney general or a county prosecutor, and individuals can request that the government bring the action against an elected official. The prosecutor or attorney general submits a complaint explaining why an officeholder lacks the legal right to serve, the defendant receives notice and a chance to respond, and the case proceeds to a hearing where a judge decides whether the official can be removed. Officeholders can be removed for unlawful election, abuse of authority, corruption, fraud or neglect of official duties, according to the Star's account of current law.
Amendment 8 would narrow that path considerably for sheriffs: only the Missouri attorney general could initiate a quo warranto case against a sheriff, while a judge would determine whether the sheriff could be removed. Missouri law does not currently allow for a recall vote of a sheriff, according to KCTV5, leaving quo warranto as the primary legal mechanism either way.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has used quo warranto at least four times since taking office in January 2023, according to the Kansas City Star's own reporting on a separate case involving a Ray County sheriff. The same reporting notes that quo warranto actions in modern Missouri cases have most often ended with an official resigning rather than being formally removed by a court. The attorney general's office has also filed a 90-page writ of quo warranto seeking to remove St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery, alleging misconduct and abuse of authority.
A Party-Line Vote in Jefferson City
The measure reached the ballot after the Missouri House and Senate passed the underlying bill largely along party lines. Senate Joint Resolution 87, introduced by Sen. Jill Carter, passed the Legislature on May 15, with the House voting 95-46 and the Senate voting 24-9, Ballotpedia reports. State and local governmental entities estimate the amendment would produce no costs or savings.
Supporters say the measure entrenches good-governance laws and prevents future legislative intrusions on elected sheriffs' duties, per the Star's reporting. But some Democrats objected to including a sheriff's duty to apprehend and jail traitors, arguing the term is undefined and could be abused. Other opponents said the removal provision could strip local control from prosecutors and concentrate power in the attorney general's office — a concern the Star's reporting attributes directly to opponents of the measure.
How Missouri Compares to Other States
Forty-seven states have county sheriff's offices, and sheriffs are elected to four-year terms in 41 of them, according to Ballotpedia. Voters in Utah and Kansas approved comparable constitutional amendments requiring elected four-year sheriffs in 2024 and 2022, respectively — Utah's passed with 82.7% in favor, while Kansas voters approved theirs with 61.6% support, per the same source.
