News & Commentary

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled the lawsuit seeking to allow all Missouri voters to vote by mail without a notary during COVID-19 can proceed.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 18, 2020

We demand expanded protections for all LGBTQ+ individuals because it’s time trans people are no longer systematically denied their freedoms.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A lawsuit seeking to remove barriers to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic is heading to the Missouri Supreme Court.The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Missouri, and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition are seeking the court’s review following Judge Jon Beetem’s dismissal of the case this week.With at least three elections in the upcoming months (June, August, and November), the lawsuit sought a ruling from the court clarifying that all eligible voters who are confining themselves to avoid contracting or spreading COVID-19 may invoke the confinement-due-to-illness reason for absentee voting in order to prevent large-scale disenfranchisement and to secure public health. The Legislature voted last week to allow voters who are ill and who are at high risk of serious complications from COVID-19 to cast absentee ballots without a notary, and to permit all registered voters to vote by mail. But unless voters are casting absentee ballots due to illness or because they are at high risk for COVID-19, voters who vote by mail under the new legislation will still need to obtain a notary seal on their ballot envelope.

Jefferson City—Today, the Missouri Legislature narrowly expanded voting rights in Missouri. Legislators added provisions allowing voters, in 2020, if they are at high risk for COVID-19, to vote absentee without a notary.

The ACLU of Missouri, with 18 other organizations, sent a letter of recommendations to Governor Parson and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Vandeven urging their offices to take steps to combat the School to Prison Pipeline during COVID-19.

The ACLU of Missouri and American Civil Liberties Union affiliates around the country sent letters to local elected officials urging them to issue moratoria against evictions and utility shut-offs and commit to preventing mass evictions after these moratoria end.

St. Louis: The Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic and the ACLU of Missouri has filed suit against University City on behalf of two musicians who, since 2019, have been systematically barred from performing because of an unconstitutional ordinance, as well as related policies prohibiting musicians from standing still while performing or requiring permits for musicians to play on private property. University City has routinely and unconstitutionally suppressed the public performance of music in the Delmar Loop.