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Missouri voters will face something unfamiliar when it comes time to nominate their party’s presidential candidates in 2024. Gone are the days of arriving at a polling place during a primary election and casting a vote in private.
Legislation signed by Gov. Mike Parson in June eliminated Missouri’s presidential preference primary, designating party caucuses for choosing presidential nominees.
Missouri’s major parties have typically held caucuses in each county after primaries during presidential election years. The caucuses were for selecting delegates for party nominating conventions. Now, caucuses will be the only way for the public to participate in the nomination of presidential candidates, although the specifics of how they will work in 2024 remain to be determined by state parties.
“I don’t think most Missourians have any idea this is in the works, that this is what they will confront in 2024,” MU political scientist Peverill Squire said, “because it will for the most part leave most Missourians outside the delegate selection process. That’s something that will probably come as a shock to them.”
Caucuses generally have lower participation among the electorate and more involvement by party activists, Squire said. In 2016, when both parties saw stiff competition for presidential nominations, turnout rates in caucus states were consistently below standard primary states, according to a tally by the United States Election Project.
Missouri’s primary turnout rate that year was 34.8%, for example. In Iowa’s caucuses, the rate of participation was 15.7%.
Caucuses require a longer time commitment than traditional voting. They usually last for hours rather than the few minutes it takes most voters to cast a ballot at the polls. Critics say caucuses can disenfranchise working-class voters.
Randy Dunn, executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party, said the change is a bad idea.
“This is a continuation of the erosion of voting rights being put forward by Republicans,” Dunn said.
The legislation was included in a larger bill changing election laws. House Bill 1878 also requires that voters present a photo ID at the polls, bans private donations to the offices of authorities who administer local elections and mandates the use of paper ballots. The bill passed the House on a 97-47 party-line vote, with the majority of Republicans voting yes.
The elimination of the preference primary was added to the bill late in the legislative session. Squire thinks the measure should have received greater public debate.
“I think if (the General Assembly) really wanted to pursue it, it probably should have gotten more time and attention, probably more consideration,” Squire said.
The move away from the preference primary is expected to save the state around $6 million to $9 million, JoDonn Chaney, director of communications for Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, said, because political parties will run the caucuses instead of local election authorities. The cost benefit is one reason proponents support the change.
Ashcroft supported the legislation, which included many election changes he touted, because the previous preference primary was non-binding, yet the state still paid to run the election. Voters cast ballots, but the nominee was still ultimately decided by delegates from party caucuses.
“Why Secretary Ashcroft supports that is because he doesn’t want to have an election where your voice doesn’t matter,” Chaney said.
Results from the preference primary through the years have consistently matched delegate votes from the national convention.
Missouri’s Republican Party held a nominating caucus in 2012 because the state’s primary was scheduled for February while national party rules prohibited primaries before March, except in select states. The state GOP used the caucus system that year to avoid losing delegates at the national convention.
Danette Proctor, chair of Greene County’s Republican Central Committee, helped run the caucus in Greene County that year. She said it started at about 8 a.m. and continued until around 4 p.m.
“They’re very labor-intensive,” Proctor said. “They can get very dicey.”
Proctor supports the move away from the preference primary due to the cost benefit, but she recognizes the large commitment caucuses require from those who participate.
In 2012, participants had to sign in as a “strong and faithful Republican,” Proctor said. Until now, however, the state hasn’t required voters to register as a member of any political party. Under HB 1878, they’ll have to do that or declare themselves unaffiliated. The provision will begin at the start of 2023.
The fact that Missouri has never required voters to declare membership in a party is one source of uncertainty that surrounds future caucuses, Squire said. In past Missouri caucuses, party affiliation was self-designated at sign-in.
“There’s no natural list of Democrats’, Republicans’ or minor parties’ adherents that those organizing a caucus can use to determine who should be eligible to participate,” Squire said.
There is also no one way for caucuses to be administered. In Iowa, for example, the parties do it differently. The Iowa Democratic Party caucus is a two-step process. Folks sign in, then there is a first-round tally. Any candidate who fails to gain support from at least 15% of participants is considered non-viable. Voters can then redistribute their support to a second choice.
Meanwhile, there may be various modes of persuasion and debate, Squire said. For example, supporters of viable candidates can recruit supporters of non-viable candidates.
The Iowa Republican Party doesn’t use a system where participants cast a vote but may first hear speeches from candidates and supporters, leading to a longer time at the venue, Squire said.
But in Missouri, many leaders say the details of 2024 are cloudy.
“You know, there’s just a lot of uncertainty around what this is going to look like, how this is going to operate,” Dunn, the Democratic Party executive director, said. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to this.”
Evan Lasseter is a graduate student studying government reporting. Evan is reporting for a project with the Missouri News Network, funded by the Stanton Foundation, that explores the impacts of policy decisions on Missouri residents.
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