All across this country, people make mistakes. We take the wrong exit on the drive to work we’ve done a thousand times. We leave our phones at home when rushing to get the kids to school. We forget to pause our mail delivery when we’re headed out of town. Fortunately for all of us, small mistakes often have simple solutions: we take the next exit, we turn around to grab our phone, we call our local post office to hold our mail for the week.
That is, unless you’re a Missouri voter who makes a small mistake when voting absentee.
Under current Missouri rules, a single mistake on your absentee ballot envelope could see your ballot thrown away without the slightest opportunity to make things right. A single forgotten signature, date, or notarization can make your vote one of the thousands tossed out each and every election. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Thirty-two states – including Kansas, Texas, and Florida – allow voters to fix minor mistakes on their absentee ballot envelopes to ensure their vote will be counted. Well over half of the states in the Union make the reasonable assessment that voters who forget a signature or a date on their absentee envelope shouldn’t be punished, but instead they should get the opportunity to make things right and have their vote counted. That fact is especially important when you look at who’s more likely to vote by mail.
Senior voters, voters with disabilities, and active duty service members are all more likely to vote absentee than the general population. In the 2020 presidential election, their votes were five times more likely to be rejected than those cast in person. That’s because when you make a mistake at your polling place – whether you make a mark outside the lines or punch your ballot incorrectly – you get the chance to make it right. Whether those voting absentee are doing so out of convenience or necessity, they deserve that same chance to fix a minor mistake and have their vote counted – just as those who vote on Election Day can.
Fortunately for Missouri voters, those 32 states that allow voters to fix small mistakes on their absentee ballot envelope show exactly how such a process could work – and a pair of companion bills currently pending in the Missouri legislature could make that process law before the 2024 presidential election.
Senate Bill 210 and House Bill 1184 would take the straightforward step of requiring local election officials to notify voters about missing information on their ballot envelope instead of throwing out their otherwise valid ballot. The bills, sponsored by Senator Jason Bean (R-Holcomb) and Representative Barry Hovis (R-Cape Girardeau County), would allow election workers to contact voters by phone, email, or mail to notify them about that missing signature, date, or notarization and give them the chance to fix it – just as they’d notify a voter who made a mistake right in front of them on Election Day.
In a recent interview with the Springfield News-Leader, Sen. Bean made the case in the clearest terms possible, saying, “this bill aims to treat absentee voters the same way as voters casting ballots at polling locations.” In other words, shouldn’t Missourians have the same rules – and the same opportunities – to participate in a fair and free election, whether they are casting their ballot from home or at a polling place?
According to a March poll conducted by Secure Democracy USA, more than seven in ten Missouri voters favor being able to fix minor mistakes on one’s absentee ballot envelope to ensure their vote is counted. In a world where agreement can sometimes be hard to find, more than three-quarters of Independent voters and 63 percent of Republican voters agree that no one’s vote should be thrown out because they made a simple mistake on an envelope.
Missourians are united on this important point: since everyone can make an honest mistake, voters should have the opportunity to fix a minor error on their ballots, whether that ballot is cast at a polling site or at home.
The director of advocacy for Secure Democracy USA, a nonpartisan election policy organization focused on improving voter access and building confidence in our elections.
