Peggy McGaugh- District 39 State Representative- has been appointed as vice-chair of the Elections and Elected Officials’ Committee as a freshman legislator.
A release from McGaugh says she has filed two bills that will be heard by that committee in the near future.
One of them- House Bill No. 368 will allow any registered voter to vote via absentee ballot without stating a reason. Currently, election law reads that in order to access an absentee ballot, one of five reasons is necessary. Voter identification will be required at the time of requesting the ballot. This proposal allows the County Clerk or Election Board to update the record for name and address changes, as well as placing them in the correct precinct prior to election day, hopefully alleviating the necessity of changes and confusion on election day, as well as the need to use a Provisional ballot. McGaugh says she sees this change as a way to prevent problems at the polls and potential fraud.
McGaugh says all 116 members of the Missouri Association of County Clerk’s and Boards of Elections agreed by Resolution to support this proposal at their annual meeting in September 2018.
House Bill No. 496 would allow the Secretary of State’s office to provide signatures gathered in the Initiative and Referendum Petition process by electronic format to the Election Authorities for verification purposes. This will eliminate not only the cost of postage- mailing the paper documents back and forth- but also will provide a higher level of resolution and clarity for the processors to compare the signatures on the voter’s original registration document to the signature on the petition, lessening confusion and potential fraud.