Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said her office was equipped to meet the requirements that had been proposed by the Trump administration for mail ballots.
The Supreme Court on Sept. 14 rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict mail ballots for the midterm election.
Boone County was already in compliance with the standards Trump wanted to enforce, Lennon said. Her office already had intelligent barcodes and tracking systems in place, and its absentee ballot envelopes met the required specifications, she said.
“We already complied with those requirements because we work with our vendor to do that,” Lennon said. “That’s been our normal practice since 2020 during COVID.”
If Trump’s request had gone through, Lennon said the biggest issue would have been navigating logistics.
“I think the impact would have been working through the uncertainty of what the post office needed from us,” Lennon said. “In terms of the things we have control over, we were in a position to be able to comply with that.”
Absentee voting for the Nov. 3 election begins on Tuesday. Uniformed service members and overseas citizens began receiving their ballots Friday in compliance with federal law requiring ballots to be mailed at least 46 days before an election.
Eight states conduct all-mail elections in which all eligible voters receive a ballot by default. In Missouri, residents must provide a reason for why they need to vote absentee.
Lennon said she has not seen an increase in mail ballots because of Missouri’s restrictions on absentee voting.
According to the Missouri secretary of state’s office website, acceptable reasons include being absent from the voter’s jurisdiction on Election Day, illness or physical disability, religious observance, certain election-related jobs, being a first responder, healthcare worker or member of law enforcement, incarceration or participation in Missouri’s address confidentiality program.
In the Aug. 4 election, about 1,000 residents voted absentee by mail, and over 6,000 residents participated in early voting absentee in person, Lennon said.
Lennon said she has seen an increase in in-person absentee voting due to its convenience but has not seen a similar increase in mail voting.
While Missouri absentee ballots that have already been requested by voters will be sent out on Tuesday, Missourians can still request an absentee ballot until Oct 21.
Absentee ballot request forms can be found on the Boone County Clerk’s website and must be returned to the appropriate local election authority, not the secretary of state’s office.
From Oct. 20 until 5 p.m. the day before the election, residents may vote with a no-excuse absentee ballot in person at the location designated by the county clerk.
New Boone County voters must submit a completed voter registration application to the clerk’s office, which can be done in person, by email or by mail. If done by mail, the voter registration form must be postmarked by Oct. 7 to be eligible to vote.
Residents can check their voter registration status through the Missouri secretary of state’s website.
