League of Women Voters Archives

Missouri Supreme Court: There is no constitutional right to absentee or mail-in voting

October 9, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

The case involced concerns about registered Missouri voters’ ability to vote amidst the ongoing public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Missouri Supreme Court rejected the arguments of voting rights groups that voters who are afraid of contracting COVID-19 at the polls should not have to get a notary public to sign their mail-in ballots. The Missouri Conference of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and two citizens appealed that “The trial court erroneously upheld a notarization requirement that imposes myriad burdens on Missouri citizens seeking to vote during a global pandemic.” Full story on arguments in this case.

A majority of the judges concurred that there is no constitutional right to absentee or mail-in voting and that the state law allowing voters who expect to be confined “due to illness” to cast an absentee ballot without notarization extends only to those who are ill. The opinion also says the state had actually extended voting options during the pandemic.

Read the official decision here.

The ACLU of Missouri, which assisted in arguing the case before the state’s high court, issued this statement after the ruling:

Today’s mixed opinions from the Missouri Supreme Court make clear what we have said from the start: Missouri voters get to decide for themselves whether they are eligible to vote absentee without a notary during COVID-19. It is reasonable for any voter to expect now that she might have to stay away from the polls on election day because she will have contracted or been exposed to the virus. That is enough to apply for an absentee ballot under the “confinement-due-to-illness” provision.

Missouri Supreme Court hears notary requirement arguments; no word on when court will rule

October 6, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Supreme Court heard remote oral arguments on Tuesday afternoon in an appeal that aims to remove a notary requirement for mail-in voting for the November general election.

In April, the Missouri NAACP, the League of Women Voters and three registered voters sued the state, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) and others, arguing that the steps to vote by mail during a pandemic are unconstitutional.

The Missouri NAACP and its ACLU attorneys say Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem erroneously upheld the notarization requirement, and they also express concern about a scarcity of notaries.

Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer disagrees with that. Counselor Sauer argued on behalf of the state and Secretary Ashcroft.

“The trial court (Cole County circuit court) pointed out that there are, even on plaintiff’s calculation, there are 44,000 notaries in the state of Missouri available to notarize absentee ballots. And there are hundreds of notaries in the secretary of state’s volunteer program,” Sauer tells the court.

He says invalidating the notary requirement is not realistic because voting by mail began on September 22. He says changing the rules midway through the process would subject Missouri voters to different legal requirements during the same election cycle.

Sauer also says invalidating the notary requirement would require reprinting of absentee and mail-in ballot envelopes across Missouri.

The ACLU disagrees with Sauer. They also say that the Cole County circuit court committed multiple errors and erroneously upheld a notarization requirement that imposes burdens on Missourians who are seeking to vote during a global pandemic.

ACLU Foundation attorney Sophia Lin Lakin argued the case on Tuesday.

“No voters will be subjected to different standards here. All voters would exercise their fundamental right under the same standard: having their ballots counted regardless of notarization,” Lin Lakin tells the court.

Some physicians and epidemiologists have filed as friends of the court. They say requiring voters to have absentee ballots notarized present unavoidable increased risks of transmitting the virus that causes COVID.

The ACLU also says Judge Beetem has misapplied a federal case that’s never been applied in Missouri.

There is no word on when the Missouri Supreme Court will rule. One of the questions the Supreme Court is considering is whether the Cole County circuit court failed to consider evidence of burdens associated with requiring ballots to be notarized.

Missouri lawmakers approved the legislation on the final day of session in May. House Democrats were successful in having a photo ID provision removed, in a compromise with Republicans. The legislation from State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, has two but separate options.

The first expands absentee voting to those 65 and older, or who are vulnerable to COVID-19, such as elderly residents. Notarization is not required for those 65 and older or who are vulnerable.

The second option expands voting by mail for everyone, but requires notarization.

Click here to read the 128-page brief from the Missouri NAACP, League of Women Voters, ACLU and others.

Click here to read the 121-page brief from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office, from Solicitor General D. John Sauer.

Missouri Supreme Court to hear lawsuit over election notary requirement

October 5, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal Tuesday that aims to remove a notary requirement for mail-in voting in the November General Election.

The Missouri Supreme Court

In April, the Missouri NAACP, the League of Women Voters and three registered voters sued the state, the secretary of state and local election officials arguing that the steps to vote by mail during a pandemic are unconstitutional. They say the new state law requiring many voters to get a notary could put their health and the health of others at risk during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Last month, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetum dismissed the case. He pointed to an expert the League provided during the trial admitting that social distancing and other precautions are consistently effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The challengers then appealed the case to the high court.

Ballot envelopes for absentee and mail-in voting have already been printed and are being mailed.

Missourinet plans to cover the hearing.

Missouri Supreme Court sending absentee voting case back to Cole County Circuit Court

June 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Supreme Court issued a decision on Tuesday involving absentee voting, ruling that a lawsuit that aims to allow all Missourians to cast absentee ballots without notarization in 2020 can proceed.

Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George Draper takes notes on June 15, 2020, while listening to oral arguments in the absentee voting case (photo courtesy of Missouri Supreme Court communications counsel Beth Riggert)

The Supreme Court is sending the case back to Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem. The decision means the lawsuit from the NAACP of Missouri and the ACLU of Missouri can proceed.

The circuit court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted. The Supreme Court reversed that decision, finding the plaintiffs had stated a claim and remanded the case to the circuit court so the parties can proceed.

The organizations filed a lawsuit in mid-Missouri’s Cole County, challenging the constitutional validity of absentee voting legislation that was approved by the Missouri Legislature on the final day of session in May.

Governor Mike Parson (R) signed the legislation from State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, in June. It expands voting by mail through the rest of 2020. There are two but separate options under the bill.

The first option has been non-controversial, and is not part of the lawsuit. That option expands absentee voting to those 65 and older, or who are vulnerable to COVID-19. Elderly people are considered at greater risk. Under the bill, notarization is not required for those 65 and older or who are vulnerable.

The second option is the key part of the lawsuit. It expands voting by mail for everyone in 2020, but requires notarization.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on June 15.

During those oral arguments, Sophia Lin Lakin, who argued the case, told the Supreme Court that requiring some voters to get a notary could put their health and the health of others at risk, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“SB 631 still requires voters whom the Legislature did not deem at-risk for COVID or those caring for others who may be at risk, to comply with the notary requirement in order to vote by mail,” Lakin argued on June 15.

But state Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who represents the state attorney general’s office and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, disputed that.

“A bad flu season does involve tens of thousands of deaths nationwide,” Sauer told the Supreme Court last week. “But nobody has ever contended that fear of contracting or spreading the flu is a statutory ground to cast an absentee ballot in Missouri.”

Sauer also argued in court that the NAACP and the League of Women Voters lack associational standing in this case.

Lin Lakin praises Tuesday’s ruling, saying “this decision is a big victory for Missouri voters.”

Click here to read the 73-page legal brief from the NAACP of Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri and others.

Click here to read the 85-page legal brief from state Solicitor General D. John Sauer.