Say NO to Election Restrictions in Missouri!

I am strongly opposed to SJR78 (Ben Brown) and HJR104 (Baker), proposed constitutional amendments aimed at modifying Art. VIII of the Missouri constitution. These amendments seek to restrict voter participation in elections under the guise of clarifying existing voting regulations. The proposed changes, such as mandating single votes per candidate or issue and restricting primary winners to the sole candidate for their party in the general election, are blatant attempts to impede the adoption of alternative voting methods like ranked choice voting. By enshrining these restrictions in the state constitution, the legislature aims to stifle future electoral innovation and limit the choices available to voters. Other possible voting methods could open the field to more competitive races, more candidates, and ultimately determine the candidate with the strongest support. Alternative methods of voting are a relatively new concept in the U.S. To have a constitutional prohibition that would eliminate them from even any future consideration is short-sighted. I support enabling legislation to allow local jurisdictions to explore alternative electoral methods, and also support state election laws allowing for more options at both the state and local levels. Although these bills provide that voting machines be tested and certified in accordance with federal standards prior to each election, they also allow for the possibility that the General Assembly might prohibit the use of any voting machine. The alternative to voting machines is hand counting. National studies show that hand-counting of paper ballots is significantly slower and more error prone than machine counting. This would not only delay the counting, but there would have to be a substantial additional cost to local jurisdictions to pay people to count the ballots. Although hand-counts are an important tool in post-election audits, where officials count small samples to verify machine-tallied results, counting entirely by hand is impractical anywhere larger than the smallest jurisdictions. Moreover, changing the wording from "All citizens" to "Only citizens" in the ballot language is unnecessary and misleading, as Missouri already mandates that only citizens can vote. This linguistic adjustment is deceptive “ballot candy” that seems aimed at confusing voters and sabotaging efforts to implement ranked choice voting. In conclusion, these amendments represent a regressive approach to election reform, obstructing progress towards more inclusive and transparent electoral systems. Instead of constraining voter options, we should be exploring avenues to enhance democratic participation and representation. I urge you to oppose SJR78 and HJR104 to safeguard the integrity and fairness of Missouri's electoral process.