It’s primary election time! There’s still time for in-person, no excuse, absentee voting at various locations around your local community. Check with your local election authority for a location near you. Also, in St. Louis City and County, you may vote at any poll on Election Day, within your election jurisdiction. Everyone registered needs to vote!
It’s important to remember the purpose of a primary election, which is to select the candidates from “your” party to be on the ballot in the General Election. If you don’t want to choose a party ballot, you may choose an issue only ballot, sometimes called a non-partisan ballot. Keep in mind no candidates will be on the issues only ballot. Missouri has an open primary system. When you register to vote, declaring a party is optional. As a result, you can choose a different party each time you vote in a primary. Parties with a ballot for this election are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Green Party. For participation in primary elections, in Missouri, I have two schools of thought. One is to look for the candidates you would like to see in the general election and see which ballot maximizes your vote. Second, decide which political party best represents your interest and vote only for those candidates.
The Presidential Primary/Caucus system of 2024 was a bit different and indeed confusing. As you recall the procedures were different for each party. Who knows what will happen in 2028? Don’t let confusing rules disenfranchise you on Election Day. Disenfranchisement will be a topic for another day.
It’s important that we all vote. “Studies show that recently only about 50-55% of US citizens of voting age have voted in presidential elections, while smaller percentages have voted in ‘off year’ congressional, state, and local elections. The percentages are sadly lower for racial ethnic minorities and poorer citizens. The explanation for America’s lack of voter participation can be found in : (a) the provisions of our constitution, (b) our voter registration system, (c) cynicism about ‘meaningful choice’ or that their votes count, and (d) various other obstacles that discourage voter turnout.”
Life Every Voice: Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral Reform, PCUSA, 2008 
More people voting will make the outcome of our elections more reflective of our diverse communities. It may also impact some of the adverse effects of gerrymandering of Congressional Districts. Another topic for future conversation.
In Missouri, in a primary election, the winner is the person with the most votes or the plurality of votes. It is not the candidate with the majority of votes. A candidate can move forward to the general election With far less than 50% of the vote. There’s a lot of reform and revision that needs to happen and organizations, including the PCUSA, work tirelessly to protect democracy, freedom, and voting rights.
Many election reform groups are working to solve some of these problems. An example of reform is the municipal primaries in St. Louis City, which is a system based on rank-choice voting. My understanding is for each office you can vote for as many people as names on the ballot. The two candidates with the most votes are on the ballot in the general election. No political party is listed. I reside in St. Louis County, so dear city friends, I hope I have, more or less, accurately described the basic concept.
“To deny anyone a fair vote is a sin. Reinhold Niebuhr’s aphorism that ‘(human) capacity for justice makes democracy possible but (human) capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary’ is a fair summary of the possibilities for our political life as we strive to make it participatory, just, and accountable as possible.” Life Every Voice: Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral Reform, PCUSA, 2008
Donna Cook is a Ruling Elder at Oak Hill Presbyterian PC(USA)
Chair of the Presbytery Public Witness Team
Retired Civics teacher from the Northwest R – 1 School District and a retired St. Louis County Election Judge.
