ST. LOUIS – Missouri’s new voter ID law will be used for the first time next month when St. Louis city voters head to the polls for a special primary election.
The primary on September 13 has to do with the next president of the Board of Aldermen. Missouri’s new law requires voters to show a valid photo ID to cast a regular ballot in an election. Acceptable forms of ID include a Missouri driver’s license, a state-issued non-driver’s license, a military ID, or a U.S. passport.
If you don’t have an acceptable form of state or federal ID you can still vote, but you will cast a provisional ballot with your signature.
We talked with election officials about the process for provisional ballots under the new state law.
“What would happen after that voter votes that provisional ballot at the polling place, the envelope would be returned to us,” Democratic Director of the St. Louis City Election Board Ben Borgmeyer said. “We would compare the signature, a bi-partisan team would compare the signature on the ballot envelope against what we have on file. So if that, those two matches, the voter’s vote will still count.”
The September primary also features another first for Missouri voting that is “no excuse” absentee voting.
Starting August 30, and for the next two weeks, city voters can cast in-person “no excuse” absentee ballots for the September 13 primary at five locations. These include four library branches and the St. Louis Board of Elections headquarters downtown.
“No excuse” absentee voting means you no longer need a reason to vote absentee.
The top two vote-getters in the September special primary move on to the November general election, but since current aldermanic members Megan Green and Jack Coatar are the only two people on the ballot they will square off in the November election.
