[Guidance] Missouri Grassroots Voter Registration 2024
Chelsea Rodriguez
Overview
For this election cycle, the Missouri Democratic Party put together this guidance to reach voter registration goals.
Background:
In 2022, the Republican-controlled legislature passed HB 1878, which among many attacks on voting rights, prohibited anyone who helps residents register to vote from being paid to register voters and banned any effort to “solicit a voter” into requesting an absentee ballot.
This was another attack on free and fair Democratic elections that made 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. Nearly every Republican member supported the measure.
Options For Groups Integrate Voter Registration Into Programs
Voter Education
Providing an unregistered voter with the information they may not have previously had constitutes voter education. Missouri now offers eligible Missourians the option to register 100% online if they are using a touchscreen phone or tablet.
QR Codes & Links
Providing an unregistered voter with a link to or a QR code they can scan with their personal phone or tablet or they can scan with a provided touch screen device to complete their registration themselves does not constitute a solicitation and does not trigger a chain of custody issue with a voter registration application.
Language and Presentation
To ensure any voter registration effort remains compliant in the voter education lane, voter registration communications will be separated from any other program communications. This will be accomplished as simply as presenting a separate page to an unregistered voter after one learns the voter is unregistered, for example.
Suggested Language
“Did you know that you can register to vote online in seconds using a touch screen? Here is a Link/ QR Code if you’d like to register now.”
