Some Republican legislators out to band rewriting of ballots.

(AP) – Some Republican legislators want to ban Missouri judges from rewriting ballot language on proposed constitutional or statutory challenges. The House gave first-round approval to the proposal Wednesday night. The bill comes after two Missouri courts rewrote the Legislature’s ballot language on a redistricting proposal before last year’s election. A Cole County judge and the Missouri Court of Appeals edited the language on the proposal that changed how Missouri was to draw legislative districts. The amendment passed with 51% of the vote. Rep. John Wiemann, of O’Fallon, said the bill would stop judges from “legislating from the bench,” because it is the Legislature’s job to write ballot language.