Missouri GOP leaders reluctant to make voting changes in response to COVID-19 outbreak
Wisconsin voters donning masks and gloves stood in long lines Tuesday to cast ballots in the midst of a pandemic — forced to ignore pleas from health officials about avoiding crowds to slow the spread of COVID-19.
With Missourians set to head back to the polls in June for local elections, and again for statewide votes in August and November, election authorities in Missouri see Wisconsin as a warning sign.
And they’re scrambling to ensure they don’t repeat the same mistakes.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson moved the municipal elections from April 7 to June 2 in response to the pandemic.
Officials hope to use the extra time to make voting less risky, with provisions for social distancing and drive-thru balloting. And lawmakers are being urged to change state’s strict rules on voting absentee.
Others argue Missouri should adopt the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s suggestion and establish mail-in and early voting
“Wisconsin showed us exactly what not to do,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, later adding: “We must ensure protections are in place to enable Missourians to vote by mail, vote early and do whatever we can to protect access to the ballot and the integrity of our elections.”
But the still unfolding pandemic leaves lawmakers uncertain if and when they’ll be able to return to the Capitol. And opposition from Republican leaders, most notably the governor, make it unlikely lawmakers will enact any sweeping changes to state election law when they do return.
“Our system is fine,” Parson said Thursday when asked about the possibility of expanding voting options during a pandemic.
“Right now,” he said, “I believe everyone is going to get to go to the polls to go vote. I’m not interested in making any drastic changes, nor should we make drastic changes, out of fear.”
That resistance is also emanating from the White House, where President Donald Trump argued urged Republicans via Twitter to “fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting” because it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”
Election security
Rick Watson, Henry County Clerk and president of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities, said his organization has been trying unsuccessfully for years to get the legislature to change the law to allow for no-excuse absentee voting.
Missouri gives voters only six allowable excuses for casting an absentee ballot — including being too sick to vote or out of town on Election Day. Those permitted to cast an absentee ballot must get it notarized. Illegally casting one is a class C felony.
Some county clerks say fear of contracting or spreading COVID-19, or the desire to abide by stay-at-home orders, qualifies as a legal excuse. Others disagree.
Watson said short of permitting no-excuse absentee voting, legislators could authorize voters to request an absentee ballot with a new excuse: “declared county or statewide emergency.” It would not require a notarized signature.
Parson declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak last month.
Watson would also like to see the legislature allow local election authorities to establish drop boxes for absentee ballots.
Lawmakers adjourned after passing an emergency COVID-19 funding bill earlier this week . It’s unclear when they will be able to return to the Capitol, or whether they will take up any issues beyond the state budget.
“I have my reservations that anything will get done this year,” Watson said.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said she has confidence that local election authorities will do everything in their power to ensure the safety of voters and poll workers.
“But the limited flexibility in our laws makes that more complicated,” she said. “Missouri voters deserve to have safe and accessible elections, and that requires changes to the law.”
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican, said the people of Missouri need to know that “we can run this election in a healthy manner.”
Around $8 million in federal funds approved by Congress earlier this year will allow the state to purchase gloves, disinfectant and other supplies for polling stations, Ashcroft said. He also hopes that money can assist efforts to establish curbside and drive-thru voting options.
Ashcroft said he’d like to see these changes rolled out for a test run in June, when turnout is expected to be much lower than the November presidential election.
“I don’t want to bring a bunch of wholesale changes during an election of 50 to 60 percent turnout in November,” he said. “I’d rather try them out and see how they work during a lower-turnout municipal election.”
But he joins the president and governor in opposing more expansive changes, such as mail-in voting.
“In-person voting is the most secure way to have an election and make sure Russian spies or North Korea or whoever can’t mess with our election,” Ashcroft said. “That is the gold standard of having a secure election.”
His position earned him a rebuke from his Democratic challenger this fall, Yinka Faleti, who called the argument that mail-in ballots are less secure “as valid as a sales pitch for snake oil.”
“It’s disturbing that the person responsible for Missouri’s elections is unaware that the majority of states allow no excuse vote-by-mail and have seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud,” Faleti said.
Voting in Kansas
Missourians curious how a robust early voting system works need only look across the state line, where since 1996 Kansas voters have been allowed to request advance mail ballots for each election — no excuse required.
To vote by mail, Kansans contact their county election officer and request an advance ballot application. Those ballots are mailed to voters 20 days before the election. They must be post-marked on or before Election Day and received no later than three days after the election.
“We are actively encouraging voters to proceed in applying for advance mail ballots, rather than waiting for deadlines, to give local election officials sufficient time to process those requests,” said Katie Koupal, deputy assistant for Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican.
During the 2018 midterm election, Kansas saw roughly 40 percent of its votes cast early. Two years earlier during the presidential election, that number was 42 percent.
The Kansas Democratic Party recently shifted its presidential primary to mail-in voting only in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Even though Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders recently dropped out of the race, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the only active candidate, Kansas Democratic Party Chair Vicki Hiatt urged voters to cast a ballot as a signal that mail-in voting works.
“If we want to make sure voters have the option to vote-by-mail in future elections, especially for the November general election if the COVID-19 virus has not been contained, Kansans must prove that vote-by-mail keeps our communities safe and makes our democracy stronger,” she said.
Five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington – hold universal, all-mail elections where all registered voters are mailed ballots. Most, but not all, votes in Arizona, California and Montana are cast by mail.
New Hampshire’s Republican governor, Chris Sununu, recently reversed his longstanding opposition to mail-in voting, announcing voters could cast ballots by mail in the November general election if the coronavirus pandemic has not subsided.
Federal mandate
As Congress mulls another emergency funding package in response to the pandemic, Democrats are pushing to include money for states to implement vote-by-mail policies.
Forcing voters to cast a ballot in person on Election Day violates the social distancing guidelines from the federal government, they argue, and could pose a major public health risk.
“People definitely shouldn’t have to risk their lives to vote,” said U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, “and I would like for us to figure out ways for people to safely vote and cast their ballot.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a former Missouri secretary of state, said he’s not opposed to equipping states with additional resources to run their election during the pandemic. But he doesn’t want to tell the states how to use that money or mandate mail-in voting.
“I think it’s much easier to reach agreement on money to the states and let them to decide what’s the right thing to do in their state than federalizing the election,” Blunt said.
Blunt said local election officials are the ones best suited to make the decisions about how to adapt to the situation.
He pointed to how election officials in Tennessee quickly selected new polling locations and extended hours when a tornado damaged polling places when the state held its primary election on Super Tuesday.
He said relying on federal officials to make those kinds of decisions would slow down the process.
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Missouri GOP leaders reluctant to make voting changes in response to COVID-19 outbreak."
