GOP meeting March 2; Dems holding election March 23
Presidential primaries are underway across the nation, and in Missouri, the process for local voters to select their presidential and congressional candidates has vastly changed.
From 2000 to 2020, Missouri held a state-run presidential primary, a process state lawmakers repealed in 2022. Efforts in 2023 to revive the state-run election fell short due to gridlock.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said he would have preferred a primary. The system Missouri will use instead requires voters to do some work to participate, he said.
“Individuals that want to help nominate presidential candidates from Missouri will need to get involved Previously, Barry County voters would have their say at the polls on Super Tuesday vote, which is on March 5 this year. Now, however, each party will be responsible for its own primary selections, with the Barry County Republican Party set to hold a caucus on March 2, and the Barry County Democratic Party participating in the Missouri Democratic Party’s state-wide primary.
On the Republican side, registered voters who did not participate in another party’s nominating contest are eligible. Voters must attend a mass meeting in their county on March 2 and be inside the room by 10 a.m. when the doors will be closed. Barry County’s Republican caucus will be held at Cassville High School, located at 1825 State Hwy. Y in Cassville.
At the March 2 meetings, Republicans will elect delegates to congressional district and state conventions, with one delegate for each 2,000 votes for Trump in the 2020 election.
Other rules for the Republican caucuses include:
• A winner-take-all rule that gives all a candidate with more than 50 percent of the participants all the delegates elected at the meeting. If no candidate meets that threshold, every candidate with backing from 15% or more of the participants will receive delegates. The same winner- take-all rule will apply at the congressional district and state conventions.
• All delegates will be elected by a slate, with no individual nominations.
• Counties that are split between Congressional districts – Boone, Clay, Jackson, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis, Warren, and Webster counties – must apportion delegates by districts.
• Most counties will have a single countywide meeting but in a handful of the largest counties, there will be multiple meetings to keep the size of the gathering manageable. For instance, St. Charles County will have separate meetings for voters in the 2nd and 3rd Congressional districts.
The people who will represent Missouri at the Republican National Convention will be selected April 6 at congressional district conventions and May 4 at the Republican State Convention in Springfield. Missouri will have 51 delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Democratic Party voters will register their preferences in the party-run primary, with the delegates who will be bound by those preferences selected at county caucuses.
The Barry County Democratic Party has announced President Joseph Biden as the sole candidate for the primary, scheduled for March 23 from 8 a.m. to noon, with voting taking place at the Crowder Cassville Campus, located at 4020 N. Main St. in Cassville.
A meeting for Barry County Democrats will be held Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. at El Mariachi Restaurant, located at 482 Hwy. 76 in Cassville. Barry County Clerk Joyce Ennis is scheduled to discuss the primary and caucus system and may talk about the citizens initiative process.
Like Republicans, Democrats will require every candidate to achieve at least 15 percent of the vote, but with no winnertake all rule.
Other rules for Democratic participation include:
• Only voters registered with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office by Feb. 21 can participate, and voters may not be registered with the Republican Party.
• Voters who wish to vote by mail can begin requesting ballots Feb. 1, with a March 12 cutoff. Mail-in ballots must be returned by noon March 23.
• Votes will be counted by March 25, with the announcement to be made by March 28. Democrats will meet in county caucus meetings on or before April 18 to select delegates to congressional district conventions based on those results.
Democratic National Convention delegates will be selected at congressional district conventions May 9 and the Democratic State Convention on June 22. Missouri will have 42 delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
For more information contact us by email barrycountymodemocrats@ gmail.com or Facebook at https://www.faceb ook.com/Barry-CountyDemocraticParty. Information is also available on the Barry County Clerk website, https:// www.barrycoclerk.com/.
Publisher’s Note: Some information from this article was provided by Rudi Keller with the Missouri Independent.
