Civic engagement groups in Missouri achieved a major win following a years-long battle against laws that criminalized voter engagement efforts and chilled the freedom of speech of organizations whose priorities are to register and educate voters.
The Supreme Court of Missouri upheld a 2024 ruling that blocked four anti-voter provisions of Missouri’s law H.B. 1878.
The four blocked provisions include a criminal prohibition on compensating non-governmental actors for registering voters; a felony criminal penalty for soliciting a voter to obtain an absentee ballot application; criminal penalties for anyone other than Missouri registered voters engaging in voter registration; and a requirement of volunteers who will register more than 10 voters to apply with the secretary of State’s office.
Volunteers found to violate these strict and confusing prohibitions could have been subject to harsh penalties, including possible jail time, fines and permanent loss of the right to vote.
These restrictions would have unlawfully chilled civic engagement groups and prevented them from doing the important work of ensuring access to the ballot box. The high court correctly held that the challenged provisions unconstitutionally restrict core political speech.
The work of nonpartisan civic engagement groups is the core work of building a better democracy — and when states limit the efforts of these groups, they also attack their right to free speech under Missouri law.
This latest ruling affirms what we know to be true: Civic-minded organizations and volunteers who help voters make their voice heard should be celebrated, not punished.
How did we get here?
Passed in 2022, Missouri’s H.B. 1878 criminalized certain voter engagement activities and assistance with absentee ballot applications conducted by civic engagement groups.
Campaign Legal Center, along with American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition challenged the restrictions on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Missouri and Missouri State Conference of the NAACP.
The circuit court temporarily blocked the enforcement of the four challenged provisions. In 2024, following a trial, the circuit court held that these provisions violated civic engagement groups’ right to core political speech by severely curtailing their ability to engage with voters and hampering their ability to spread their pro-voter message.
The circuit court further determined that the challenged provisions are impermissibly vague, failing to give notice of what conduct is actually prohibited.
The state appealed the circuit court’s decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, which in 2026 upheld the circuit court’s ruling, blocking the four challenged provisions as unconstitutional restrictions on political speech.
What’s next?
With the courts repeatedly recognizing that the work of engaging voters in our democracy is protected by the Missouri Constitution, civic engagement groups will be able to assist the voters who are most affected by H.B. 1878 moving forward.
The law has been blocked since November 2022, and the Missouri Supreme Court’s 2026 decision ensures that it will remain permanently blocked.
Campaign Legal Center will continue to work alongside civic engagement groups to ensure their critical work can be done without fear of criminal prosecution, because our democracy is strongest when every voter can make their voice heard.
Join us in the fight today.