voting

Rep. Melanie Stinnett, a Springfield Republican, sponsored the bipartisan bill that could give voting rights back to more than 53,000 Missourians. It passed the Missouri House 107-36, and is now waiting for action in the Senate.

The state House has approved legislation that would allow more than 53,000 people supervised by the state to vote.

Passed by Republican lawmakers last year, Amendment 4 would require a majority of voters in every Missouri congressional district to approve a proposed constitutional amendment for it to pass. That would allow a small minority of voters to defeat petition campaigns.

Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who is running for secretary of state, and Rep. Paul Waggoner, a Hutchinson Republican, also want to require driver’s licenses to indicate citizenship status, in an effort to stamp out the already-rare instances of noncitizen voting.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, going against a century of precedent, declared that the Republican-favoring congressional map took effect Dec. 11, even though opponents had submitted enough signatures to likely force a statewide referendum.

Some Republican election officials have broken with the president on nationalizing elections, even as they have avoided criticizing him directly. That includes Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who also told lawmakers he wouldn’t provide the state’s full voter list to the feds without a court order.

Kansas lawmakers say that requiring driver's licenses to list legal status would reduce noncitizen voting — something that is exceedingly rare. One study says suspected cases happen just 0.0001% of the time.

The bill contains many provisions, including expanding the no-excuse absentee voting period.

The report uses Kansas and Arizona to illustrate the unforeseen financial costs of executing documentary proof of citizenship laws as they gain traction in Congress and statehouses nationwide.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act that protects minority-majority congressional districts. Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said the St. Louis-based 1st Congressional District may be redrawn next.

People Not Politicians, the citizen-led campaign seeking to overturn Missouri’s newly passed congressional map, must submit signatures to the Secretary of State this week. If accepted, the gerrymandered map will be blocked from taking effect before the 2026 election.

Less than a year from the midterms, state and local voting officials from both major political parties are actively preparing for the possibility of interference by the Trump administration. In Missouri, the Justice Department made an unprecedented demand to investigate voting machines, access old ballots and more.