Biden leads Missouri’s Democratic presidential primary
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Democratic Party announced President Joe Biden is the projected winner of the state's presidential primary Saturday night.
Local voters who consider themselves Democrats, can exercise their democratic right at The Arc, Saturday. The voting doors will open at 8 a.m. and remain accessible until noon.
According to Missouri Democrats, the voting process will be simple: voters will arrive, cast their ballots privately, and then depart.
"There are 98 polling locations across the state, and we hope to get as many Democratic voters out as possible," said Lyra Noce, Chair of Boone County Democratic Party.
Missouri presents 64 pledged Democratic delegates up for contention. On Saturday's primary ballot, voters will find President Joe Biden alongside Jason Palmer, Marianne Williamson, Dean Phillips, and other candidates, according to Missouri Democrats.
In the previous election cycle, over 660,000 Democrat voters participated when the state managed the voting process. Noce believes the number will be much lower turnout this year.
"We probably will have lower voter turnout than that (660,000), but we were able to mail more than 27,000 ballots to registered Democrats, and we will continue receiving those ballots through the next few days," said Noce.
In 2022, HB 1878 was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. This bill abolished Missouri's state-run presidential preference primary election and implemented a party-run system for selecting presidential nominees.
"The Republican legislature in Jefferson City removed the state run primary and put that burden on to parties," said Noce.
Since then, significant alterations have been made to voting requirements. These changes include the introduction of photo ID requirements, the discontinuation of state-run presidential primaries, and the transfer of this responsibility to the state parties.
Saturday will be the first party-run presidential contest since the law took effect in August 2022.
"I definitely think this process is disenfranchising voters, not just for Democratic voters," said Noce. "We would like to see this return to a state run election so that we can have multiple polling locations within a county and ensure that each voter is having accessibility they need to the ballot box."
Out of the 64 candidates, 14 delegates are given based on the overall vote in the state. Another 8 delegates, known as PLEO delegates (party leaders and elected officials). The remaining 42 delegates are divided among the state's eight congressional districts based on the votes in each district.
To qualify for statewide delegates, a candidate must secure at least 15% of the statewide vote and 15% of votes within a specific congressional district.
For Democrat voters opting to cast their ballots from home, the state must receive their ballots no later than Saturday at 10 a.m.
The Missouri Democratic expects to release final results by March 28.
