March 7, 2024

After Republicans in the state legislature eliminated Missouri’s state-run presidential primary, the Missouri Democratic Party worked to design the best party-run process possible given the barriers of the new law and is ready to announce the locations that will serve as in-person voting sites for the Party-run presidential primary election scheduled on Saturday, March 23, 2024, and has released the following statement: 

“Keeping Black and Brown communities from exercising their right to vote has been the strategy of those in power since Reconstruction, and the elimination of the state-run presidential primary election is one of the many tactics used by this extreme Republican Party to disenfranchise voters across the state. Missourians have watched the Republicans in the legislature come after our fundamental rights and personal freedoms session after session, and this move was no different. The goal was to suppress voter participation and not one Democrat voted for the bill that made this change. We hope the Republican supermajority will consider voters' dissatisfaction across the state and address this,” said Senator Karla May (D-St. Louis).

“I grew up on a cotton farm in the Bootheel, I am all too familiar with the barriers rural communities face due to Republicans making one bad decision after another. Barriers to accessing basic services like having a hospital that is still open, high-speed broadband, and rural roads that are well maintained. And now, they are making it much harder for Missourians in rural areas to vote. Here’s the reality: Republicans who run our government made rural Missouri’s ability to vote and to have their voices heard much, much harder, and that was intentional. This dysfunctional Republican Party is determined to take away Missourians’ voices and they have no intention of stopping until they have restricted every Missourian’s ability to question and overrule their complete stranglehold on power. That power belongs to the people,” said State Senator Greg Razer (D-KC). 

Background:

In 2022, the Republican-controlled legislature passed HB 1878, which eliminated Missouri’s state-run presidential preference primary election and designated a party-run system for choosing presidential nominees. This is another attack on free and fair Democratic elections that makes it harder for people to exercise their voting rights. The Missouri Democratic Party adamantly opposed this change, and none of the Democrats serving in the Missouri State House or Senate at the time voted for this bill. 120 Republican members supported the measure. More information can be found here.

Senator Karla May has represented the 4th Senatorial District, covering parts of St. Louis City & County since 2019, and formerly served as the vice chair of the Missouri General Assembly’s Black Legislative Caucus. Senator May served as the Region XI chair for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators from 2012-2018, serving Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, formerly serving on the Executive Committee as chaplain and currently serving as an at-large member.

Senator Razer serves State Senate District 7, in Kansas City, covering a portion of Jackson County. Razer is the grandson of a farmer, the son of a public school teacher, and a graduate of the University of Missouri. Senator Razer was raised on a cotton farm in the Missouri Bootheel, one of the most impoverished parts of our state. Senator Razer was elected to the State Senate in 2020.

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Media Contact:

Chelsea Rodriguez, Communications Director

press@missouridems.org