Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Congress Bill Spotlight: renaming Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America”

Congress Bill Spotlight: renaming Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America”

Project 2025: Part II

Project 2025: Part II

The Panama Canal has value to American business—but it has more value to China

The Panama Canal has value to American business—but it has more value to China

The False Promise of Dismantling DEI

The False Promise of Dismantling DEI

Redistricting

Redistricting

Virus a valid excuse to vote absentee in Missouri, lawsuit argues

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson does not think the coronavirus pandemic is a valid reason for people to vote absentee. Advocates have filed a lawsuit arguing that it is.

John Moscovitch/Getty Images
Bill Theobald
By Bill TheobaldApr 20, 2020
Bill Theobald

Bill Theobald is senior writer at The Fulcrum, where he focuses on everything to do with voting. This December marks his 40th anniversary in the business, and he still believes -- now more than ever -- that the glow from great journalism can truly light the world.

See More Writings by author

The coronavirus pandemic is a valid reason for Missourians to vote using mail-in absentee ballots, according to a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the League of Women voters.

The suit, filed Friday, is the latest instance of voting rights advocates asking elected officials or courts for waivers or favorable interpretations of state laws limiting the circumstances for voting absentee. Missouri is one of 16 states that require an explicit "excuse" for obtaining a mail-in ballot.

The lawsuit argues that a provision of Missouri law, permitting absentee voting by those incapacitated or confined because of illness or disability, could easily be interpreted to include people who fear leaving their homes during the pubic health emergency. Five states, the lawsuit notes, have already interpreted similar statutes that way.

But officials in different parts of Missouri are divided on the question, and Republican Gov. Mike Parson opposes the idea.

Parson, who is favored in a competitive race for re-election, has already postponed all municipal elections from April to June 2. Primaries still set for Aug. 4 will decide nominees for governor and other statewide offices, eight U.S. House seats and most seats in the General Assembly

The suit says the absentee voting regulations violate the Missouri Constitution. It also asks a state court judge to eliminate the usual requirement for many absentee ballots to be notarized.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

In addition to the illness and disability exception, the state permits absentee voting for those who will be away from home, have a religious conflict, are poll workers or are in jail on Election Day.

Latest news

Senate confirms RFK. Jr as the nation's health secretary
Governance & Legislation

Senate confirms RFK. Jr as the nation's health secretary

One Lesson from the Elections: Looking At Universal Voting
Electoral Reforms

One Lesson from the Elections: Looking At Universal Voting

The Burden of Survival and Pursuing Justice
Rule of Law

The Burden of Survival and Pursuing Justice

Congress Bill Spotlight: BIG OIL from the Cabinet Act
Governance & Legislation

Congress Bill Spotlight: BIG OIL from the Cabinet Act

Read More

MERGER: The Organization that Brought Ranked Choice Voting and Ended SuperPACs in Maine Joins California’s Nonpartisan Primary Pioneers

A check mark and hands.

Photo by Allison Saeng on Unsplash. Unsplash+ License obtained by the author.

MERGER: The Organization that Brought Ranked Choice Voting and Ended SuperPACs in Maine Joins California’s Nonpartisan Primary Pioneers

Originally published by Independent Voter News.

Today, I am proud to share an exciting milestone in my journey as an advocate for democracy and electoral reform.

Keep ReadingShow less
Half-Baked Alaska

A photo of multiple checked boxes.

Getty Images / Thanakorn Lappattaranan

Half-Baked Alaska

This past year’s elections saw a number of state ballot initiatives of great national interest, which proposed the adoption of two “unusual” election systems for state and federal offices. Pairing open nonpartisan primaries with a general election using ranked choice voting, these reforms were rejected by the citizens of Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada. The citizens of Alaska, however, who were the first to adopt this dual system in 2020, narrowly confirmed their choice after an attempt to repeal it in November.

Ranked choice voting, used in Alaska’s general elections, allows voters to rank their candidate choices on their ballot and then has multiple rounds of voting until one candidate emerges with a majority of the final vote and is declared the winner. This more representative result is guaranteed because in each round the weakest candidate is dropped, and the votes of that candidate’s supporters automatically transfer to their next highest choice. Alaska thereby became the second state after Maine to use ranked choice voting for its state and federal elections, and both have had great success in their use.

Keep ReadingShow less
Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

The United States Supreme Court.

Getty Images / Rudy Sulgan

Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

Fourteen years ago, after the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the popular blanket primary system, Californians voted to replace the deeply unpopular closed primary that replaced it with a top-two system. Since then, Democratic Party insiders, Republican Party insiders, minor political parties, and many national reform and good government groups, have tried (and failed) to deep-six the system because the public overwhelmingly supports it (over 60% every year it’s polled).

Now, three minor political parties, who opposed the reform from the start and have unsuccessfully sued previously, are once again trying to overturn it. The Peace and Freedom Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party have teamed up to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Their brief repeats the same argument that the courts have previously rejected—that the top-two system discriminates against parties and deprives voters of choice by not guaranteeing every party a place on the November ballot.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ranked Choice Voting May Be a Stepping Stone to Proportional Representation

Someone filling out a ballot.

Getty Images / Hill Street Studios

Ranked Choice Voting May Be a Stepping Stone to Proportional Representation

In the 2024 U.S. election, several states did not pass ballot initiatives to implement Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) despite strong majority support from voters under 65. Still, RCV was defended in Alaska, passed by a landslide in Washington, D.C., and has earned majority support in 31 straight pro-RCV city ballot measures. Still, some critics of RCV argue that it does not enhance and promote democratic principles as much as forms of proportional representation (PR), as commonly used throughout Europe and Latin America.

However, in the U.S. many people have not heard of PR. The question under consideration is whether implementing RCV serves as a stepping stone to PR by building public understanding and support for reforms that move away from winner-take-all systems. Utilizing a nationally representative sample of respondents (N=1000) on the 2022 Cooperative Election Survey (CES), results show that individuals who favor RCV often also know about and back PR. When comparing other types of electoral reforms, RCV uniquely transfers into support for PR, in ways that support for nonpartisan redistricting and the national popular vote do not. These findings can inspire efforts that demonstrate how RCV may facilitate the adoption of PR in the U.S.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025