Election bills stalled, Missouri Republicans ask Gov. Parson to call special session

Missouri Republican lawmakers want Gov. Mike Parson to call a special session on election legislation, effectively acknowledging voter ID and other GOP-backed measures won’t pass before Friday when the General Assembly adjourns.

The House Elections Chairman, Rep. Dan Shaul, and six other Republican committee members on Wednesday sent a letter to Parson requesting the session and faulting the Senate for inaction on the bills.

Their request received a boost from Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, whose office said he supports a special session if the General Assembly can’t pass the legislation during the current session.

The proposals would restore a voter ID law struck down by the state Supreme Court and more tightly regulate voting, part of a broad effort by Republicans nationwide to restrict ballot access following a presidential election featuring false and unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and corruption.

A bill passed by the House in February would require voters to use forms of ID from a pre-approved list, such as a driver’s license. Those without required photo ID can cast a provisional ballot that would only be counted if the local election department verifies the voter’s signature with one on file.

Republicans have also advanced measures that would also raise the bar to get initiative petitions on the ballot. Thousands of additional signatures could be required from more areas of the state.

“In hearing from hundreds of constituents across the state, it remains clear the Missourians continue to support common sense legislation to ensure the security of elections,” the GOP lawmakers wrote to Parson.

A Parson spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Republican governor has shown a willingness to call special sessions over the past year. He called a special session last summer focused on violent crime and another in October on the budget.

Ashcroft spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said in an email that Ashcroft “feels that a special session on election reform would not be needed if the legislature would just pass the election bill that is before them in this current session.”

“But if that is not the case, then the secretary would support a special session on election reform,” Chaney said, adding that Ashcroft applauds Shaul’s work on the legislation.

Shaul, of Imperial, and the other lawmakers who signed the letter pinned the need for a special session on the Senate. In their letter, they wrote “these important issues are being held up in the Senate.”

Neither Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, of Columbia, nor Senate President Dave Schatz, of Sullivan, could immediately be reached for comment.

Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Springs Republican who leads a Conservative Caucus that sometimes clashes with Senate leadership, said elections bills were something all Republicans are interested in getting done.

“My expectation is actually the elections bill is hopefully going to come up today,” Eigel said. “I know that sometimes the House gets excited because the Senate is a little bit more deliberative about some of these issues ... Their desire to enforce election integrity is the same desire of the Senate.”