The period for presidential candidates to file to appear on the Missouri Democratic presidential primary ballot closed at 5pm on Tuesday. For decades, in a presidential preference primary, Missouri voters went to the polls to vote. That process changed in 2022 after Republican-controlled legislation passed that repealed the state’s primary.
The bill (HB 1878) eliminated Missouri’s state-run presidential preference primary election and designated a party-run system for choosing presidential nominees.
While Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft summarized the new way of selecting candidates “a caucus system for established state political parties [to] nominate a candidate for the president of the United States,” The Missouri Democratic Party (MDP) cynically described the change as “another attack on free and fair Democratic elections that makes it harder for people to exercise their voting rights.”
Not only did the state Democratic Party adamantly oppose the change, not one Democrat serving in the Missouri State House or Senate voted at the time for the bill. Nearly every Republican member did support the measure.
On Tuesday, Missouri Democratic Party Chair, Russ Carnahan, released a statement chastising Republicans for eliminating the state-run presidential primary but added Democrats had worked hard “to design the best party-run process possible given the barriers of the new law.”
“Missouri Democrats sought to make lemonade with these lemons and maximize voter participation by offering a mail-in and an in-person voting option to Democratic presidential primary voters,” said Carnahan.
“The old-fashioned caucus-only election makes it hard to participate in our free and fair Democratic elections and disenfranchises too many senior citizens, military personnel, those with disabilities, and work or childcare obligations from exercising their right to vote.”
In alignment with new legislation, the following candidates filed and will appear on the ballot for the presidential primary election scheduled on Saturday, March 23, 2024:
Joseph R Biden, Jr, Dean Phillips, Stephen P Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato, Marianne Williamson and Jason Michael Palmer.
Additionally, Missouri Democrats announced the Democratic National Committee conditionally approved its plan for the state’s 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Defining it as a “hybrid election,” party officials said Democrats will have the opportunity to cast votes by mail or at an in-person voting site from 8am until noon on the day of the primary.
Missourians must be registered to vote with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office by February 21, 2024, to be eligible to vote in the state’s Democratic presidential preference primary election. Ballots will be available for request beginning February 1st via the Missouri Democratic Party’s Website, with distribution beginning Feb. 17th. The request period will close March 12 and ballots must be returned to the MDP by 10 am on March 23, 2024. Votes will be counted by March 25th, with the announcement made by March 28, 2024.
Despite initial opposition to HB 1878, the Missouri Democratic Party is committed to “greater participation in our Democratic elections,” it stated in Tuesday’s press release. “It is what is best for everyone, and the Missouri Democratic Party will continue to advocate for policies that expand access to voting and fight against these attacks on our Democratic process and restore Missouri’s state-run presidential primary for future elections.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
