By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A state committee that will create a plan for Missouri's compliance with federal voting legislation met today in St. Louis to hear public testimony. Under the Help America Vote Act, the federal government will, for the first time, give funding to state and local election authorities. Missouri Disability Vote Project director Kelly Anthony says her group wants to see legislation that will bar local election officials from placing federal funds into their operating budget, If the funding is seen as relief from a budget crunch and the money isn't spent toward what it's intended, then we're no further along than we were before the Help America Vote Act passed. So, a non-supplantation clause on the part of local election authorities would ensure that the federal funds are being used towards what they're intended.
The committee will travel to three other cities in Missouri this month. It has until June 1 to draw up the state plan for receiving federal funds.