Kansas City, MO (March 31, 2020) – Missouri Democratic Party Approves Additional Emergency Measures to Protect Against Coronavirus: Electronic and Vote By Mail for Delegate Selection

In light of the recent news that it could be two more months of restrictions (as of 3/30/2020), the Missouri Democratic Party has now adopted a definite electronic and by-mail voting program to select state and district-level national delegates. 

MASS MEETING CAUCUSES, CONGRESSIONAL CONVENTIONS & 2ND QUARTER STATE COMMITTEE MEETING AT WHICH PLEOS ARE SELECTED

All caucuses and conventions (county, ward, and township mass meetings and congressional conventions) will be conducted via a google form or other electronic online balloting system to complete the essential party business of electing state and national delegates. 

• The online balloting systems (example here) will be administered by the Missouri Democratic Party staff who will be responsible for reporting results back to the local committees. 
• Delegate Candidate Qualifying Forms are due by 5pm on April 30, 2020. This form will be used for filing for all state delegate candidates representing their ward, township, or county, as well as national district-level delegate filing, at-large delegate filing, and PLEO delegate filing. This must be filled out to qualify to run as any type of delegate to the State and National Conventions. Anyone who previously filed Form MM, Form F, PLEO, or any other form will be automatically filed for the position they filed for. 
• Digital and mail ballots to vote for state delegates will be able to be requested by the delegate or Democratic voters primarily via the website but can also be requested through mail, phone, or text. 
• Voters will be required to vouch that they voted in the March 10 presidential preference Democratic primary in order to participate, and will be verified will voter history rolls as available. An affidavit of being a Democrat and a registered voter remains. 

MASS MEETING CAUCUSES – STATE-LEVEL DELEGATES

1. State level delegate filing period will last until 5pm on April 30, 2020. Local Committees will be responsible for ensuring those in their respective political district area file the qualifying form to run as a state delegate. Nominees for state delegate to the state and congressional conventions must all fill out the online qualifying form. 
2. Beginning April 2, 2020 and ending by 5pm on May 2, 2020 any sworn Democrat in the state of Missouri will be able to  request a ballot be sent to them via email or mail. Local Committees will be responsible for ensuring those in their respective political district area fill out the ballot request form. Once the request is received from the voter, we will data-match them to the voter file and ballots will only be emailed or mailed as long as their address on their request form matches the address on record with the Secretary of State in order to verify their identity. Ballots can be requested online through MissouriDemocrats.org, by calling our office, or emailing a special email address. 
3. The Local Committees and Delegate Selection and Affirmative Action Committee will advertise widely the processes for filing for state delegate and requesting a ballot and empower candidates to outreach to their networks to vote by requesting a ballot. 
4. Balloting will occur over a 10 day period: May 9th – 18th. Ballots requested to be mailed will be mailed on May 9 (or prior) and must be received back via mail or other means by May 18. We suggest ballots be postmarked by 3pm on March 15th. Ballots requested to be emailed will be emailed out by the Missouri Democratic Party directly to the requestee. During the balloting period, local committee leadership (chairs & vice chairs of county committees, or ward or township committee people for St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Jackson County) will have access to a regularly updated list of which voters have completed their ballots. It will be incumbent upon the local committees to follow up with voters and delegates to ensure ballots are completed within the allotted time frame. Lists of those who have requested state delegate ballots will be made available to delegate candidates for campaigning purposes. 
5. Local committees may use reasonable means to reach out and help with getting ballots submitted. This can include helping facilitate voting via phone and text messages as long as the local committee helper is creating a receipt of the conversation for auditing purposes. Local committees shall not persuade voters to vote for one delegate candidate over another while helping facilitate their voting. 
6. Candidates for ward, township, and county mass meetings state delegates must be gender balanced and will be decided by plurality at-large voting. All candidates for delegate for each respective candidate in their respective subdistrict (county, ward, township) will run against each other for m number of positions and each voter selects up to m candidates on the ballot (voters will have m votes, however they are unable to vote for the same candidate more than once). Voters will only be able to cast their ballot within the caucus of one presidential candidate. The m candidates with the most votes are the winners with providing for gender balance. 
7. All unfilled state delegate spots at the ward, township, or county state delegate level will be automatically filled by the next highest vote getters from other candidates who filed to run as delegate in the same congressional district but were not elected at their ward, township, or county level. For example, if in Jackson County Ward 1, only 2 candidates file to run for the 4 total delegate spots, the remaining 2 spots will be filled by someone in a pool of those who also ran in Jackson County at their ward or township level and didn’t secure enough votes in their ward or township. All state delegate counts are available here. 

CONGRESSIONAL CONVENTIONS – DISTRICT-LEVEL NATIONAL DELEGATES

1. District-level national delegate filing period will last until 5pm on April 30, 2020. Local Committees will be responsible for ensuring those in their respective political district area file the qualifying form to run as a national delegate. Ballots for district-level national delegates from their congressional district will be finalized by May 19, following the selection of the state-level mass meeting delegates, who will then vote on the district-level national delegates. The current delegate selection plan calls for having been elected a state delegate in order to run as national delegate, which this updated process adheres to. Nominees for district-level national delegates selected by the congressional conventions must all fill out the online qualifying form. 
2. Presidential candidates who have not waived their candidate right of refusal will have the opportunity to review the list of nominees for national delegates and must certify the ballot by May 7. 
3. Electronic ballots will be emailed out by the Missouri Democratic Party directly to the state delegates representing their ward, township, and county from the state delegate selection process aforementioned for selection of the district-level national delegates from each congressional district. State delegates will have the option to request a mail ballot. 
4. Balloting will occur over a 10 day period, May 20 – May 30. Ballots requested by state delegates to be mailed will be mailed on May 20 and must be received via mail or otherwise by May 30. 
5. During the balloting period, Congressional District leadership (chairs and vice-chairs of congressional committees and county chairs within the district) will have access to a regularly updated list of which delegates have completed their ballots. It will be incumbent on the local committees to follow up with delegates to ensure ballots are completed within the allotted time frame. Lists of state delegates will be made available to those running as national delegates, for campaigning purposes. 
6. Local committees may use reasonable means to reach out and help with getting ballots submitted. This can include helping facilitate voting via phone and text messages as long as the local committee helper is creating a receipt of the conversation for auditing purposes. Local committees shall not persuade voters to vote for one delegate candidate over another while helping facilitate their voting. 
7. Candidates for national convention delegate must be gender-balanced and will be decided by plurality at-large voting. All candidates for delegate for each respective candidate in their respective congressional district will run against each other for m number of positions and each voter selects up to m candidates on the ballot (voters will have m votes, however they are unable to vote for the same candidate more than once). Voters will only be able to cast their ballot within the caucus of one presidential candidate. The m candidates with the most votes are the winners with providing for gender balance. 
8. Nominees for National Delegate will have the opportunity to write a statement of candidacy. They must include gender identity and candidate preference. 

2ND QUARTER STATE COMMITTEE MEETING – PLEO SELECTION

1. PLEO national delegate filing period will last until 5pm on April 30th, 2020. The State Party, Democratic committees and caucuses will be responsible for advertising that the Pledged Party Leaders and Elected Officials (PLEOs) file the qualifying form to run as a national PLEO delegate. 
2. The previously scheduled May 9 State Committee meeting will be rescheduled for June 6. 
3. The meeting will be held virtually via webinar or conference call regardless of CDC recommendations due to the expectation that the following weekend is the in-person State Convention and not wanting to burden State Committee Members with two weekends in a row of travel. 
4. The meeting is being moved from May 9 to June 6 due to the rescheduling of the district-level national delegate selection to conform to the DNC’s National Convention Rule 10.A that requires that PLEO delegates be elected following the election of district level delegates.
5. During the June 6 State Committee Meeting, State Committee Members will select the PLEO delegates and temporary national convention standing committee members (9 members, 3 each for credentials, platform, and rules standing committees). 
6. Any Democrat may apply for the position as a temporary member of the standing committees by submitting an application to Missouri Democratic Party with their name, contact information, for what temporary Convention Standing Committee they wish to be considered, and presidential preference or uncommitted status, no later than May 20, 2020 at 5pm. Applications may be via email to conventions@missouridems.org. 
7. State Committee Members will select PLEO delegates and temporary standing committee members via google forms or other software which will be mailed out between 12pm to 10pm on June 5. During the June 6 virtual meeting, PLEO national delegate candidates will be given one minute to address the state committee members. Electronic ballots will be due to be submitted by State Committee Members by 10pm on June 6. 
8. All rules concerning the election of temporary standing committee members from the delegate selection plan will remain, such as presidential right of review, requirements for a separate election for membership on each committee, proportionality to represent presidential preference, and the male and female membership (determined by self-identification) of each standing committee shall be as equally divided as possible under the state allocation, i.e. the variance between men and women on any committee, or among the three committees in aggregate, shall not exceed one. 
9. Votes on PLEO national delegates and temporary standing committee members will be decided by a plurality vote. 
10. As a reminder, individuals shall be eligible for the pledged Party Leader and Elected Official delegate positions according to the following priority set by DNC Rule 10.A.1 & Reg. 4.16: big city mayors and state-wide elected officials (to be given equal consideration); state legislative leaders, state legislators, and other state, county, and local elected officials and party leaders. Automatic delegates who choose to run for PLEO delegate will be given equal consideration with big city mayors and state-wide elected officials.

STATE CONVENTION – AT-LARGE DELEGATES, DNC MEMBERS, RESOLUTIONS

At this point the State Convention is still being planned as an in-person event for June 13th at the Columbia Convention Center, though we may need to change those plans based on further guidance from federal, state, and local officials and public health agencies. If we must not hold an in-person state convention, we will move balloting for at-large delegates, resolutions, and DNC members to be digital with a mailed voting option.

DNC Member filing and Resolutions Submission forms will be required by May 20, 2020 at 5pm via an online webform. The Missouri Democratic Party will make the DNC filing form and Resolutions Submission forms available by April 15. 

If the State Convention is held in-person, delegates to the state convention will be allowed to carry up to (1) proxy vote for delegates who are unable to attend in-person. These proxies must be instructed as to the vote preferences of the delegates not in attendance. Proxy instructions should be ranked whenever possible. Proxy votes will only be allowed for delegate selection and not for selection of DNC members. Proxies must be held by a delegate who is in the same congressional district as whom the proxy is for, in order to ensure respective political district fairness.

RULES & BYLAWS & PROCEEDINGS

• The MDP will limit the business of all delegate selection proceedings to only essential items: Election of delegates and alternates, election of standing committee members, election of DNC members, and voting on resolutions. The Chair may rule non-essential business as out of order or add essential business to the proceedings.
• Loosening the requirements on party notification of events: forgo notification requirements for party meetings regarding delegate selection when reason and justification is provided. 
• Allow party state and local committees to conduct conventions, meetings, and proceedings via telephonic, internet, or other electronic means. 
• In consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of any Congressional District, the officers of the Democratic State Committee are authorized to make alterations that may be necessary to achieve the purposes of the Delegate Selection.
• The MDP will prohibit any official MDP in-person sponsored event or gathering from occurring from March 16th – May 30th. This includes fundraisers, party meetings, social events, trainings, delegate selection proceedings, etc. 
• The MDP offices will not be available for the public until further notice. Only credentialed personnel will be permitted to access our offices on an as-needed basis. All MDP staff implemented a teleworking policy as of Friday, March 15th. MDP has also cancelled all staff out-of-state until further notice. 
• We recommend our campaigns and local committees to only have meetings held virtually using Google Hangouts, Zoom, and conference calls and we will help facilitate the use of online technology for our committees and campaigns to use to organize and carry on. We have developed recommendations on virtual and online organizing tactics for our campaigns to utilize, as well as health, medical, and other guidance via our Campaigning During Coronavirus Guide at http://www.missouridemocrats.org/campaigningduringcoronavirus
• In regards to canvassers, the MDP recommends that all canvassing stops until further notice. In order to win majorities in November, we have a lot of persuadable voters we need to connect with. The best way to do that is phones, email, digital apps, and other internet communications. Don’t stop campaigning. This election is as critical as any in our lifetimes, but let’s begin to change the nature of our campaign efforts to consider the public health reality.

Kansas City, MO (March 15, 2020) – This afternoon, the Missouri Democratic Party State Committee met and approved a slate of emergency measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. 

Jean Peters Baker, Chairwoman of the Missouri Democratic Party released the following statement: 

“The Missouri Democratic Party is committed to doing everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health and well-being of Missourians. Today, the Missouri Democratic Party approved significant changes to our convention schedule which will allow us to conduct essential party business while lowering the risk of coronavirus transmission. 

The Missouri Democratic Party will immediately postpone all delegate selection proceedings by seven weeks, to begin on May 30th, and will reorganize our process to limit the number of meetings. These meetings are still planned to be in-person on May 30th, but we have passed provisions to allow for virtual meetings if we later need to offer that option. We have additionally provided provisions to allow for delegates to fill delegate spots if they are not in attendance, which will help remedy potential future low attendance and ensure we allow the process to be Democratic. The Missouri Democratic Party will continue to monitor the situation carefully and may make future changes in consultation with public health experts.

This was not an easy decision to make, however we are currently in the middle of one of the worst public health crises in the past century and the MDP is committed to doing our part to keep our party members, candidates, elected officials, and the public at large safe during this difficult time.”

Below is a more detailed explanation of the changes adopted by the Missouri Democratic State Committee. These changes are set to expire after the Missouri Democratic State Convention: 

On Delegate Selection Proceedings: 

MASS MEETINGS: All mass meetings scheduled on April 6th are cancelled and the delegate selection plan will be updated to have all state delegates, which under the prior plan would have been elected at the mass meetings, to be elected at the congressional conventions instead. 

• Previously, the state delegates elected at mass meetings on April 6th would then move on to the April 30th congressional convention and June 20th state convention. We are collapsing the first step of mass meetings to instead elect all state delegates at the congressional district conventions (postponed to be held on May 30th), and then those delegates will immediately proceed to elect the national convention delegates. This is to reduce the number of meetings held for safety purposes, and it still fulfills the process of electing state delegates who vote in congressional conventions and go onto the state convention to vote on resolutions, at-large national delegates, and DNC members. 
• The total state delegation size will remain the same. The calculations for delegate apportionment and allocation will be done in accordance with how the current delegate selection plan details. 
• The previous role of mass meeting chairs – county chairs, and ward and township committeepeople in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Jackson County – will be modified in accordance with moving state delegates to be elected at the congressional conventions. The Congressional Conventions will have an officer of a county committee that falls within the congressional district serve as the Secretary for the Congressional Convention meeting, rather than the Secretary of the Congressional District Committee. 
• Form MM (filing to run for a state delegate) may now be filed in advance by May 15th so that state delegate candidates who do not attend in person may still be considered to fill vacancies. They may still be filed in-person at the Congressional Conventions on May 30th so that those coming in person, who have not pre-filed, may still run as state delegates. The pre-filing forms will be used to fill vacant state delegate positions. Those who have already prefiled their Form MM will remain valid. 
• Public calls for all meetings will be due to be disseminated 30 days prior to any meeting. 

CONGRESSIONAL CONVENTIONS: All congressional conventions scheduled on April 30th are postponed to May 30th. 

• State delegates will be elected as the first step at the May 30th congressional conventions, and then will immediately proceed to elect the national district-level delegates from each congressional district. 
• The congressional district chair will act as the meeting chair during the entirety of the in-person meeting, from electing state delegates to electing national delegates. Caucuses will still be formed for each respective candidate, which will have caucus chairs that report results to the meeting chair. The Congressional Conventions will have an officer of a county committee that falls within the congressional district serve as the Secretary for the Congressional Convention meeting, rather than the Secretary of the Congressional District Committee.
• In the event that in-person congressional conventions are not recommended by federal, state, and local public health authorities, the MDP will officially chair each congressional convention in order to run teleconferencing and/or video conferencing software to conduct the convention. 
• Delegates elected to the state convention will be elected in the same proportion as the original delegate selection plan indicated, granting the same number of delegate positions to each county, ward, or township as was allocated in the original delegate selection plan. Any vacancies not filled by state delegates afterward will be filled by those in attendance at the congressional convention and then those who pre-filed and will be selected by random drawing. 
• District-Level national delegates may pre-file by May 15th and will be considered to run as national delegates if they are first elected as state delegates at the beginning of the congressional convention, or they may file and run in person at the Congressional Convention on May 30th. 

2ND QUARTER STATE COMMITTEE MEETING & PLEO ELECTION: The 2nd quarter state committee meeting scheduled for May 9 will be held virtually via webinar or conference call. The business of electing PLEO delegates will be done via the webinar or conference call. PLEO delegates must still file online to run in advance by May 1st.

STATE CONVENTION: The State Convention, currently scheduled to be held on June 20th in Kansas City, will be relocated to a mid-Missouri location in Columbia, Jefferson City, or the Lake Ozarks area and potentially will have the date changed.

• The MDP bylaws provision on the state convention date are suspended to allow for a date change, as to be determined by MDP staff determining venue availability. This is to ease attendee’s travel and make contingency plans for date changes determined by MDP bylaws. 
• Allow delegates to the state convention to carry up to (1) proxy vote for delegates who are unable to attend in-person conventions. These proxies must be instructed as to the vote preferences of the delegates not in attendance. Proxy instructions should be ranked whenever possible. Proxy votes will only be allowed for delegate selection and not for selection of DNC members. Proxies must be held by a delegate who is in the same congressional district as whom the proxy is for, in order to ensure geographic fairness. 
• Allow unfilled state delegate positions after the congressional conventions to be automatically filled by those who filed in advance to run as a state delegate, which will accommodate those who want to run and are unable to attend their congressional convention. Random selection will be used to fill vacant delegate spots in order to ensure fairness. 

The MDP will limit the business of all delegate selection proceedings to only essential items: Election of delegates and alternates, election of standing committee members, election of DNC members, and voting on resolutions. The Chair may rule non-essential business as out of order or add essential business to the proceedings. 

Contingency measures for virtual meetings, remote balloting and/or voting and mail-in ballots will be developed as contingency plans for congressional and state conventions in the event that in-person gatherings are still a risk at those later dates. The Delegate Selection plan will be amended to allow for general virtual voting measures. 

On General Proceedings, Office Protocol, Events, and Recommendations: 

• The MDP will prohibit any official MDP in-person sponsored event or gathering from occurring from March 16th – May 1st. This includes fundraisers, party meetings, social events, trainings, delegate selection proceedings, etc. 
• The MDP offices will not be available for the public from March 16th until May 1st. Only credentialed personnel will be permitted to access our offices on an as-needed basis. All MDP staff implemented a teleworking policy as of Friday, March 15th, until further notice. MDP has also cancelled all staff out-of-state travel until May 1st. 
• We recommend our campaigns and local committees to only have meetings held virtually using Google Hangouts, Zoom, and conference calls and we and our partners in the House Caucus will help facilitate the use of online technology for our committees and campaigns to use to organize and carry on. We and our House Caucus partners are developing a series of recommendations on virtual and online organizing tactics for our campaigns to utilize, as well as health, medical, and other guidance. 
• In regards to canvassers, the MDP recommends that all canvassing stops until further notice. In order to win majorities in November, we have a lot of persuadable voters we need to connect with. The best way to do that is phones, email, digital apps, and other internet communications. Don’t stop campaigning, this election is as critical as any in our lifetimes, but let’s begin to change the nature of our campaign efforts to consider the public health reality.
• We have developed a Coronavirus FAQ, a campaigning while coronavirus guide, and Mass Meeting and Congressional Convention Chair Guidance, which will be updated daily to reflect new information and guidance and found at www.missouridemocrats.org/coronavirus

On Rules & Bylaws: 

• Loosening the requirements on party notification of events: forgo notification requirements for party meetings and conventions when reason and justification is provided. 
• Allow party state and local committees to conduct conventions, meetings, and proceedings via telephonic, internet, or other electronic means. 
• In consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of any Congressional District, the officers of the the Democratic State Committee are authorized to make alterations that may be necessary to achieve the purposes of the Delegate Selection.