This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 28, 2009 - State Rep. Michael Frame, D-Eureka, today pre-filed a bill (HB1470) for consideration in the upcoming state legislative session to permit early voting in Missouri. Frame sits on the House Elections Committee.
Under this legislation, which is similar to a bill Frame introduced last session, voters could begin voting as early as three weeks before an election.
More than 30 states have early voting. Missouri allows people to cast absentee ballots more than a month before elections, but they must swear that they meet certain criteria -- such as being out of their voting jurisdiction on Election Day.
The bill is likely to face a stiff opposition from the GOP-controlled Legislature, which previously has been cool to the idea. Frame, who is close to labor, may be expecting a strong union push for this bill in an election year.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, the state's chief elections official and likely Democratic candidate for the U. S. Senate next year, is a supporter of early voting in Missouri. So was her predecessor, Republican Matt Blunt, before he became governor.
State GOP leaders generally have maintained that early voting, also dubbed "no-fault absentee voting,'' would help Democratic-leaning voters. However, Carnahan has said that statistics indicate both parties' voters would benefit roughly equally.
In his release, Frame said, "Early voting has helped boost voter participation and alleviate election day lines at the polls in the states that have adopted it. Adding Missouri to the majority of states that offer early voting has long enjoyed bipartisan support, and there is no reason not to offer Missourians that option for 2010 general elections."
