From Missouri Digital News: https://mdn.org

JEFFERSON CITY - A restriction on the use of eminent domain is one of five initiatives that will appear, pending certification by the secretary of state, on the November ballot.

Only a quarter of the groups seeking signatures for ballot initiatives met the May 4 petition submission deadline.

Missouri Citizens for Property Rights submitted two petitions, each requiring more than 140,000 signatures, for constitutional amendments that would restrict the use of eminent domain by both governmental and private entities.

Groups also delivered petitions for initiatives that would create a Missouri Quality Home Care Council and require utilities companies to generate 2 percent of sales from renewable energy by 2011. These petitions needed between 86,000 and 95,000 valid signatures each.

Troy Stremming of Ameristar Casinos Inc. submitted a petition to repeal the cap on gambling losses, stop construction of new casinos and create an education fund supported by the gambling tax.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would ban human cloning will not be on this year's ballot. A court dispute between Cures Without Cloning and the secretary of state's office regarding ballot summary language prevented the group from getting enough signatures before May 4. Cures Without Cloning has said it will continue its efforts through 2010.

Efforts led by former University of California regent Ward Connerly to ban affirmative action programs also fell short. Petitions that supported the proposed constitutional amendment barring affirmative action laws were not submitted in time.

Ryan Hobart, a spokesman for Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, said that even though five petitions were turned in, the office was prepared for all 25 petitions approved for circulation.

Hobart said the submissions will be sent to the state's 116 local government offices to verify each petition's signatures against their records. Carnahan's office will certify petitions that met the legal criteria by 5 p.m. on Aug. 5.

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