By KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Missouri Governor Matt Blunt said Wednesday that he'll push for legislation to allow voters to cast absentee ballots in future elections without needing a reason.
Right now, voters have to give a reason why they're voting absentee; those include being out of town on Election Day or being incapacitated. But there's currently also nothing keeping people from lying and just picking a reason.
No-fault absentee voting would remove the white lies; people would simply be able to mail in absentee ballots before Election Day without being asked why they're voting absentee.
The governor says letting anyone vote absentee without having to give a reason would be a low-cost way of giving more people access to the polls.
Blunt also wants to end the currently rule that absentee ballots must be notarized.
No-fault absentee voting is a form of early voting. Early voting, though, is a process by which a county election office sets up a handful of voting booths at its office (and possibly at a few satellite offices). Voters can then go to that office in the 10 days before the election and cast ballots there.
Blunt, the new Republican governor, previously served as Missouri's top elections official in his job as Secretary of State.