State Representative Kip Kendrick Archives

Missouri Democrats want Parson to address expected mail-in ballot delay

August 18, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The U.S. Postal Service has notified the Missouri Secretary of State that it might not be able to deliver all mail-in ballots by Election Day in November – possibly leaving some votes uncounted. In a letter, the postal service says Missouri’s law allowing voters to request a ballot by October 21 could be pushing it. The agency recommends that voters who choose to mail their ballots do so no later than October 27 – one week before the November 3 election.

Rep. Kip Kendrick

Under Missouri law, election authorities need to receive a mail-in ballot by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order for it to be counted. State Representative Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, wants ballots to count if they are postmarked by Election Day. During a press conference today outside of the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, Kendrick says Gov. Mike Parson should expand the current special legislative session to change the law.

“It’s important more than ever that Missourians voices are heard,” says Kendrick. “And this is a simple way – this is a simple change in statute that we can make sure to address this issue and hopefully stem some of this dismantling – the effects of dismantling the U.S.P.S right here in Missouri. Missourians deserve it and democracy demands it.”

Democrats allege that President Donald Trump is working to financially strain the postal service and has removed 600 mail sorting machines in order to prevent an expected surge in mail-in voting during COVID-19. There have been talks for a while that Trump is trying to privatize the agency.

Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove

State Representative Ashley Bland Manlove, D-Kansas City, expressed her frustration about Trump.

“I am disappointed that the person who swore an oath to protect our great country has openly claimed war on the most fundamental aspect of our democracy – voting. The legislation we are proposing to change was written when you could rely on the mail being on time,” she says. “The literal removal of processing machines would logically mean that that standard too should change.”

Kendrick has written a letter to Parson requesting the governor to act:

“For several reasons, it is imperative that we do all that we can do to uphold the integrity of the election process in Missouri. These reasons include the admission by President Trump on August 13, 2020, that he intends to continue underfunding the United States Postal Service in order to purposely interfere with absentee voting; developments suggesting a systematic dismantling of the United States Postal Service is currently underway; and the admission by Dr. Randall Williams, Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, in testimony this week to the Special Committee on Disease Control and Prevention that he expects COVID-19 case numbers to continue to rise into the fall,” the letter says.

Yinka Faleti

“This move would go a long way to ensure that all Missouri voters, regardless of political affiliation, will have their vote counted this November. It is unacceptable that election integrity is in doubt at the moment, and it is even more unacceptable for our state to not take proactive measures to protect the vote,” Kendrick says.

Why legislative action instead of an executive order? The Democratic candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, Yinka Faleti, says a short-term fix is not good enough.

“What we’re asking for is not something done in hodge podge or something done temporarily,” he says. “We’re asking for a permanent fix to a permanent problem. Missouri voters deserve to have their voices heard. As an immigrant-American, I chose to be an American citizen. And so, I didn’t automatically have the right to vote. I had to earn it. As an Army veteran, I fought to protect it.”

Faleti alleges that his November opponent, Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, was not upfront about the letter from the U.S. Postal Service warning Ashcroft of the likely delay. He says Ashcroft did not let local election authorities know about the agency letter.

“Ashcroft’s silence is deafening, derelict, and dangerous to democracy. He is unworthy of our trust,” Faleti says.

Ashcroft spokeswoman Maura Browning says the Secretary of State did not share the letter with local election authorities but says he has been talking about this problem for two months. On June 16, Browning says Ashcroft discussed the issue with some county clerks and the Urban Board – Missouri’s larger election jurisdictions.

She says the office received the letter from the USPS on Aug. 4. For the last two weeks, Browning says election officials have been busy certifying their own election results and many of them have also been trying to verify signatures from the Kanye West presidential candidate request filing.

“Our office will provide as much support as local election officials need to promote early absentee and mail-in applications and encourage voters to send their ballots early,” she says.

During a statewide flyover in July, Ashcroft made nine stops to talk about the temporary 2020 voting options. At each stop, Browning says he stressed to have voters apply early for absentee and mail-in ballots, and to turn them in right away.

Gov. Parson’s office says at this time, the governor has no plans to expand the special session any further. His office says Parson’s focus has been and continues to be on violent crime.

Missouri leaders brief panel about COVID-19 response efforts

August 12, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A Missouri House Committee heard Tuesday from state Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams and K-12 Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven. During a public hearing at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, they briefed lawmakers about the state’s response to COVID-19, its spending of federal coronavirus relief funds, and reopening measures taken by Missouri’s schools.

Missouri Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven

The hearing is the second time the Special Committee on Disease Control and Prevention has met. The first time was in March.

Vandeven says the state’s goal is to get as many school buildings open as possible and as safely as possible. She says students could take a real toll if they miss out on months of in-person learning.

“We’re hearing about an increase in suicides,” says Vandeven. “We’re hearing about just what this long-term social and emotional development, particularly for our youngest learners, the impact that we could see decades from now.”

Representative Lane Roberts, a Republican from Joplin and a former Missouri Public Safety Director, says not all students will be safe at home if they are doing online classes.

“When they’re out doing other things, they’re engaging in activities that in my opinion, based on some experience, that those activities generate more injury and death than they would suffer from the virus,” says Roberts.

Vandeven says parents and school leaders should consider both sides of the risk.

“If you go back to any kind of time frame when they are out of school, you do see increases in some of the activities that you are talking about,” she says.

According to Vandeven, the state has distributed as much federal coronavirus aid to Missouri schools as it can at this time. She says Missouri’s local governments can also use their own federal aid to support school-related health measures.

State Representative Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, passionately encouraged all Missouri school leaders to require students and staff to wear masks.
“For the life of me, I cannot understand why it’s not 10%,” says Kendrick. “If we want to do in-seat, if we want to do this correctly, why is it not 100%.”

Vandeven says the state left the decision up to local leaders to make.

“We’ve certainly provided guidance that talks about the importance of wearing masks,” says Vandeven. “But particularly, if you’re within six feet, we’ve certainly emphasized the importance of that. But those are local decisions.”

“With all due respect, should this be a local decision on masks?” asks Kendrick.

Missouri Health and Senior Services Department Director Randall Williams

“Well, I’ll ask you all that because this is Missouri and we’ve typically always prided ourselves in being a local control state. I would have to say that we see our role as providing the best guidance that we possibly can and trusting that our local authorities know the best for their communities to make those decisions,” says Vandeven.

A German study shows about 20% of COVID-19 patients surveyed have developed heart problems, including some middle-aged adults with mild cases of the virus. Long after recovering, some patients have reported persistent symptoms like shortness of breath, fatigue, coughing and headaches. Some athletes have chosen to sit out the season out of fear of developing such health complications.

Dr. Williams says science is showing that COVID-19 can target the kidneys, the lungs and heart.

“That’s one thing that just makes me so sensitive to this idea why ‘I’m 25 years old, I’ll just get COVID-19 and go on.’ I don’t believe that’s true. I believe the that sequela of that, whether it’s to your point, two months from now you still have difficulty breathing or muscle aches, or that you give it to someone else. I just think we don’t want anybody to get COVID-19 because I don’t think we know enough about it even at this juncture, eight months into it, to give any assurance to a young person that ‘you are just going to get it and get over it.’ I don’t know that we know that to be true,” says Williams.

MSBA’s Susan Goldammer

Due to the potential long-term health problems, Representative Matt Sain, D-Kansas City, suggested that school leaders shift to online learning until a vaccination is available and there’s more data about the disease.

Susan Goldammer with the Missouri School Boards’ Association testified before the committee. The group represents about 400 school districts around the state.

She says staffing during the pandemic is a prominent question schools are asking her organization about. She says some teachers are retiring early due to COVID-19. Missouri has had a persistent teacher shortage and could even have a shortage of substitute teachers and bus drivers this fall.