Missouri in store for sweeping election changes


The Missouri Legislature made a mistake this year, a Wardsville state representative asserts, and he and other state lawmakers want to correct it.

At the end of a turbulent legislative session, state lawmakers pushed through a 58-page elections bill set to launch sweeping changes to Missouri's election system and operations, starting with voter ID requirements and the elimination of the state's presidential primary.

"I think there's a grave mistake to telling Missourians that we don't care what their opinion is on a presidential primary," said Rep. Rudy Veit, R-59th District. "We want the people's input on who our presidential candidates are," he continued. "This is not a country where we tell you, 'Here's who you can vote for.'"

As Missouri Democrats stood entirely opposed to the election bill, the provision to take away Missouri's presidential primary and replace it with a caucus system divided Cole County representatives.

Veit, who killed efforts to transition to a caucus system last session, said he supports the underlying election bill, which is why he voted for its final passage, but he stands opposed to the elimination of Missouri's presidential primary.

"Fundamentally, I am in favor of presidential primaries, and I want my constituents to have a voice in who our presidential candidates are," Veit said.

Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, said he had some concerns about the bill getting rid of Missouri's presidential primary and switching the state to a caucus system, but the length of the bill and flurry of activity in the final days of session overshadowed his concerns.

"When you have a bill that's three pages long, you can go through that with a fine-toothed comb and look at it," Griffith said. "But if you've got a bill that's got 1,000 pages in it, that's just -- well, it's not impossible, but it just makes it very problematic."

Griffith said he wouldn't change anything about the legislation, and he trusts the bill sponsor and assigned committee properly vetted the proposal.

Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R- Jefferson City, said the transition to a presidential caucus system is a complex issue, but he ultimately believes it "will prove to be the superior system."

"On one hand, I like the idea of parties being solely in charge of who they nominate, and I think allowing party members to discuss and dissect the pros and cons of each candidate is a good thing. Free and fair debate should lead to the best candidate being nominated," Bernskoetter said. "At the same time, I don't want to see people get railroaded or peer pressured into making choices they wouldn't otherwise make."

He said he expects it to be a learning experience for voters in the state.

Veit, Griffith and Bernskoetter voted in favor of the bill.

The legislation

The General Assembly passed HB 1878, sponsored by Rep. John Simmons, R-Washington, on May 12 -- the second to last day of session and the last day the Senate was in session.

In addition to transitioning the state to a caucus model, the bill prohibits the use of electronic voting machines in Missouri after 2024 and makes the hand-marked paper ballot Missouri's official ballot beginning in 2023.

Also under House Bill 1878, electronic voting machines and vote tabulating machines cannot connect to the internet or connect to another device that is connected to the internet (known as "air gapping"), election workers and judges no longer have to live in the jurisdiction they work for, and stronger regulations are leveled against people who register others to vote.

While the bill blocks voting machines from connecting to the internet, it permits the Department of Revenue to use electronic voter registration application forms and electronically transmit the information to local election authorities, tasking the secretary of state with ensuring communications remain secure.

Additionally, the bill equips the Missouri Secretary of State's Office with new powers to audit for accuracy the list of registered voters within any county, withhold funding for county clerks and local election authorities for not maintaining voter rolls, and conduct cybersecurity checks on local election authorities every two years.

HB 1878 also prohibits the state and local election authorities from accepting private money or in-kind donations to administer elections, excluding the secretary of state in select years when the state Legislature reduces appropriations. Donations of water, food, locations to conduct the election and personal protective equipment are still permitted under the bill.

The bill outlaws an individual or group from assisting voters obtain an absentee ballot with pre-filled applications and changes the absentee ballot deadline to the close of polls on election day. Ballot drop boxes and voting by mail, allowed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, are also prohibited under the bill.

Absentee voting requires photo ID and, unless it's done within two weeks of the election day, a permitted excuse, such as being absent from the jurisdiction on election day, illness or physical disability, religious exemptions or employment as an election worker, first responder or health care worker.

One of the most unexpected changes, Veit said, was the move to a caucus system for selecting the state's presidential preference.

For the past two decades, Missouri has used an open primary system in which voters choose a party ballot upon entering their polling location and pick a candidate to move on to the November general election.

Before that, Missouri used a caucus system in 1992 and 1996 to determine its selection for the presidential candidate moving on to the general election.

Primary elections are run by the state or local governments, and votes are cast with a secret ballot. Caucuses, as used in Iowa, are run by political parties and usually involve voters physically separating themselves into groups according to which candidate they support.

The results of the caucus are used to determine how many delegates per candidate Missouri sends to national party conventions, where political parties officially decide a candidate to run in the general election.

Bill concerns

Veit said the caucus system severely limits the ability of voters to participate in the democratic process because it requires more time and tends to be more cumbersome to engage in.

The Wardsville Republican said he's particularly concerned about workers.

"They don't have the opportunity to participate in a caucus because they're either working, they have children they're taking care of, they're in the military, they're policemen, they're doctors, they're nurses, they have jobs," Veit said. "And more importantly, they don't feel comfortable going to a caucus and fighting with a few people who will dominate the caucus, and they won't be heard anyway."

Veit said the provision was slipped into the bill as one of its last amendments during the final days of session. He said the House didn't have a final copy of the bill a full day before voting on it.

The rest of the bill contained several election priorities for his party, Veit said, but the Senate had adjourned early and left no room to modify the legislation to restore language making Missouri a presidential primary state.

"I assure you, I've been talking to a lot of members up there, no one realized on the House side it was even in there until the last minute," Veit said.

Veit, a practicing attorney, said there's at least one more section of the bill that he believes violates the Constitution's separation of powers. The provision prevents parties from settling an election lawsuit and requires a resolution to come from a judge's finding.

His concerns surrounding the election bill are shared by House Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade, who takes it a step further.

"I would say (HB 1878) is an absolute attack on democracy and that we really hope it's struck down in court," said Quade, a Springfield Democrat.

Quade said the move to a caucus system caters to political parties' most extreme supporters and those who have been long entangled in party politics. Typical voters won't be willing to commit several hours to express their preference, she said.

"I believe that switching to a caucus model will make it less likely that folks are involved in that election," Quade said. "I definitely don't think it's the most catastrophic part of the bill by any means, but I do think it adds to having fewer people participate in democracy."

Quade said she has issues with the bill making it a crime for groups to freely host voter registration drives or give out pre-filled absentee ballot applications. She's also concerned about the expanded powers given to the secretary of state to investigate voter fraud, noting those provisions expire in 2025 after the next presidential election.

Quade said voter ID laws make it harder for older citizens and people of color to vote, and it's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Some of the electronic machines being phased out assist older voters with the process, Quade said, and local election authorities should have autonomy to fundraise when the state Legislature cuts funding.

"All in all, we think it is a blatant effort to make it harder for folks to participate in democracy," she said.

Quade said she doesn't believe the changes are in the interest of strengthening the integrity of Missouri elections because Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said they are safe from interference. By reacting to concerns the 2020 election was stolen, Quade said Missouri Republicans are perpetuating the myth.

"The secretary of state pushed for these changes while he was simultaneously declaring that (the 2020 election) was the most successful and secure in our state's history ... and there's virtually no evidence that any fraud impacting the outcomes of our elections has happened in our state," Quade said. "And when you look at the things this bill addresses -- making it harder for folks with disabilities to vote or making it harder for college students to register on campuses -- these are not things that add to any sort of election integrity. It makes it harder for people to engage."

Are Missouri elections safe?

Ashcroft has repeatedly stated Missouri's elections were conducted appropriately and there were not widespread instances of voter fraud. His office found two individuals, both of St. Charles, who voted in Missouri and in Florida during the 2020 general election.

Shortly after the General Assembly passed HB 1878, Ashcroft said he was pleased with it because the bill "further safeguards elections in the state."

Throughout the session, staff from the Secretary of State's Office testified in support of election reform bills with many of the same provisions as HB 1878.

"We are always trying to make Missouri elections better, safer and more transparent," Ashcroft said in a news release. "These measures will serve as a deterrent and make our elections more secure from current and future threats."

"We are living in an age where unseen threats can undermine the integrity of elections," he continued. "It is better to plan for and thwart cyberattacks before they happen."

Griffith said election reform was a major topic of interest among his constituents this session, particularly the provisions surrounding absentee ballots and voter ID requirements.

"We need to make sure that everyone feels like their vote counts and their vote has not been stolen, and I think that (HB 1878) is one way that we're going to be able to do that," he said.

When asked if he is concerned about the integrity of Missouri's elections, Griffith said, "I really don't know."

He said a lot of Missourians feel like there were some things wrong with the 2020 election.

"Right or wrong, I think even if there's a perception, people need to have confidence in the voting system," he said. "And I think that this is one step in the right direction to be able to address that concern."

Veit said elections were safe, accurate and free from fraud because the secretary of state has said they are, but he supports precautionary measures to ensure they can't be tainted in the future.

Part of Veit's frustration was the move to a caucus model was added so late in the legislative process.

Legislative atmosphere

For the second year in a row, the Missouri Senate adjourned session early. After passing a congressional redistricting map, members of the upper chamber left the Capital City a day early. The decision forced the House to pass legislation as is or not pass anything at all.

From the House perspective, Griffith said it was a disappointing end to a strange, frustrating session.

He said the session ran like business as usual in the House, but legislation got stalled and killed by the Senate.

"It just seems to me like nothing was ever happening over there," he said. "They would filibuster for hours on end, and whenever they got down to getting legislation passed that's going to be meaningful for the entire state of Missouri, they just ran out of time."

There were 51 bills on the Senate's perfection calendar and another 33 on its third reading calendar when the chamber adjourned a day early. One of the bills abandoned on the Senate's third reading calendar was Griffith's HB 2455, which sought to address military and veteran suicide.

Griffith said it was very disappointing.

"All the hard work that we did on our side of the building went for naught this session," he said.

"Some of these bills were very non-controversial. Some of these bills could be life-changing for a lot of Missouri citizens," he continued. "And for them not to take them up and to do what they did -- for what appeared to me to be for political reasons -- is just not right."

With 34 members in the body, Veit said senators have more power to kill legislation than representatives. Most senators worked with the House, Veit said, but "it was a select few senators that became the roadblock."

The Senate's decision to adjourn early hurt legislation, Veit said, noting other Republican priorities like initiative petition reform didn't progress. He said more could've been passed if lawmakers approached the session more calmly.

Bernskoetter said the session was tumultuous, but he doesn't believe much would have been accomplished had the Senate stayed in session for the final day.

The seven senators of the Conservative Caucus held the floor for "a large part" of the session, Bernskoetter said, and then they decried the lack of accomplishments this session.

"That aforementioned group had spent almost the entire last week of session attempting to kill any bill that didn't have one of their names on it," Bernskoetter said. "No one needed to suffer through another day of that."

Griffith said state lawmakers are elected to do work on behalf of their district, not run for another office or "grandstanding on political values that they perceive that they have."

Quade said many members of the House were upset the Senate adjourned early for a second year in a row, but she wasn't surprised.

"Frankly, that was kind of consistent with the way the Senate had been operating throughout the entire session," she said.

She said Republican infighting made it an interesting session and the chaos it caused aided her party's efforts to reduce the number of Republican priorities making it to the governor's desk.

Although the Senate's early departure killed several Republican priorities, Quade said it also impacted bipartisan bills that were still being negotiated in conference committees.

Looking ahead

HB 1878 was finalized by the state Legislature and now awaits action from Gov. Mike Parson, who can sign the bill into law or veto it.

Parson said he "most certainly" intends on signing HB 1878, despite the bill containing voter ID provisions that have been struck down by courts before.

A provision in the bill prevents it from being entirely struck down if a single provision is deemed unconstitutional by courts.

"In today's world, when you can provide ID for everybody at no charge, and we can do that, I think having a voter ID to go vote is a fair way to do an election," Parson said.

Upon becoming law, Ashcroft said he plans to travel the state to talk about how new election provisions will be implemented.

Meanwhile, Veit said he is talking to state senators, representatives and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about reversing the change to a caucus system.

"They all agree that we should work on that and try to change that next year," Veit said. "I'm sure there's a few that won't want to change it, that's how it got into the bill. They may have legitimate reasons for it, I just don't understand them."

Veit said he also wants to better understand what the opinions of his constituents in Cole and Miller counties are on the issue.

"I believe that we want everybody's opinion, whether it's binding or not, we at least want our people to participate in the presidential election, and we want their opinion so our leadership within our party knows what the majority of people are thinking, not just a few," Veit said.

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Click the link below to read the full bill:

• HB 1878: Elections

https://bit.ly/3oGXL6M

Sponsor: Rep. John Simmons