Making Missouri’s elections honest, fair and free of voter fraud is a hot topic in Jefferson City right now. The state house and senate both have bills filed for election reform.

Last Tuesday the Missouri house elections committee passed Rep. Peggy McGaugh’s HB1871 election bill after some major changes. The bill extends early voting from 2 weeks to 4 weeks and has other changes to clarify language in current election laws.

The original bill had a provision to bring back the Presidential Primary for Missouri voters. The Presidential Primary is non-binding and is estimated to cost taxpayers 9 million dollars. In Missouri, the political parties choose their presidential candidates at caucuses hosted in each county by the individual political parties. Holding a primary election could mislead some voters who might not realize that a vote in the non-binding primary does not help their candidate win a place on the November 2028 presidential ballot.

State Rep. John Voss, a Republican from Cape Girardeau, sponsored the amendment that stripped the primary from the bill. “It should be something as a standalone piece of legislation,” Voss said. “I’m also concerned with the $9 million fiscal notes that’s attached to that, given our current financial situation.” (Missouri Independent)

The house election committee also removed a provision in the bill which would have moved the ‘No electioneering’ line from 25 feet to 50 feet from the entrance to polling stations.

Senator Sandy Crawford filed a similar bill, Senate Bill 836 that also includes the change to ‘No electioneering for 50 feet’.

Sen. Joe Nicola, R-Grain Valley, said he didn’t think increasing that zone to 50 feet will make much of a difference.

“There’s a lot of polling places that, 25 feet, we’re already at the edge of the sidewalk; 50 feet is going to put us in the parking lot,” Nicola said. “So I’m not really sure this is going to actually be practical, or is the point to just kind of get people away and not even show up because it’s so far away from the door?”

Senator Crawford’s election bill had a committee hearing last Thursday, but the committee has not yet amended or voted on her bill.

Missouri election laws had a major revision in 2022 following many concerns about voter fraud across the nation. The 2022 revisions require voters to have a government-issued photo ID to vote in Missouri. A state driver’s license, passport, a non-driver’s license ID card, or a military ID are all valid options. The 2022 law also added early voting for 2 weeks prior to an election and banned mail in ballots. The 2022 election law created a path for convicted felons to regain their voting rights providing the conviction was not for voter fraud.

In our state the local election authority (typically the county clerk) is responsible for elections, and they work directly under the secretary of state guided by state and federal laws. Missouri has some of the highest integrity elections in the USA.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said: “Maintaining accurate voter rolls is not optional—it is an ongoing, legally required responsibility. In 2025 alone, Missouri removed more than 200,000 outdated registrations, including approximately 60,000 belonging to deceased voters. This work is done in close coordination with our local election authorities, who know their communities best, and with available federal resources. Strong election integrity depends on consistent maintenance, collaboration, and adherence to the law.”

Since May 2025, the Federal Justice Department has demanded full, unredacted voter rolls — which would include driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers — from 44 states. Most have refused to provide these records and have instead provided publicly available versions of their voter files. Since September, the DOJ has sued 23 states and D.C. for refusing to hand over their voters’ sensitive information.

This has raised privacy concerns along with speculation of a federal desire for a national ID card. Missouri and 13 other states initially rejected REAL ID due to very similar concerns. However state lawmakers caved to federal bullying when they were threatened that money coming back from Washington DC would be cut off and then all 50 states opted in for Real ID.

The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office has provided publicly available voter information to the U.S. Department of Justice consistent with both federal requirements and Missouri law in response to federal requests in September and December of 2025.

“Missouri will continue to comply with all lawful requests while ensuring voter privacy protections required under state statute remain in place.” Secretary Denny Hoskins

Find more information on elections at sos.mo.gov/elections