Parson, Michael L

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    Flooding in Missouri Kills at Least 4, Including 2 Poll Workers

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    The governor activated emergency operations procedures after the deaths on Tuesday after days of heavy rainfall, flash flooding and tornadoes.At least four people, including two poll workers, died in floods across Missouri on Tuesday, prompting Gov. Mike Parson to activate an emergency operations plan.Intense storms brought six to 10 inches of rainfall, flash flooding and two small tornadoes in parts of Missouri, starting on Sunday and continuing through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The governor said in a statement on Tuesday evening that the storm had caused damage across the state and that the emergency action plan would ensure that state officials could respond if “further disruptions or damage occur” and help with recovery efforts.On Tuesday morning, two poll workers died after their vehicle was swept off State Route H near Manes, Mo., by floodwaters that had inundated parts the state, the Wright County Clerk’s Office said in a statement. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the two victims, whose names were not released, were a 70-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman.Loni Pederson, the Wright County clerk, said in a statement that the two were a couple “who donated their time to serve their community.”Floodwaters were also believed to have caused two deaths in St. Louis County on Tuesday, according to the police.In one case, a woman was found dead in her S.U.V. as floodwaters began to recede. The woman had driven her car into the water during the height of the flood on Tuesday morning, the St. Louis County police said in a news release, noting that they were still investigating the episode.Later in the afternoon, the police found a man dead in a creek in the St. Louis area. The authorities said they believed that he had drowned but were waiting an autopsy.The State Highway Patrol said that it had also received reports of two vehicles that had been swept off roads in Wright County early Tuesday. The people in those vehicles were able to swim to safety, the authorities said.Flooding in some parts of Missouri had prevented voters from reaching polling places, the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office said. Governor Parson said on social media that voters in St. Louis City or St. Louis County who could not reach their polling places could vote at any polling location within the city or the county.Emergency operations in St. Louis will continue through Saturday morning as storm conditions and flooding are expected through the end of the week, an emergency operations official said on Tuesday evening. More

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      Missouri Enacts Strict New Voter Rules and Will Switch to Caucuses

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      Missouri overhauled its election rules on Wednesday, enacting a voter identification law similar to one the state’s highest court blocked two years ago and doing away with its presidential primary in favor of a caucus system.The new law, which Gov. Michael L. Parson signed at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, requires voters to present a photo ID when casting a regular or absentee ballot. Those without such documentation will be required to fill out a provisional ballot that would be segregated until they provide photo identification or their signature is matched to the one kept on file by election officials.The voter identification rule was the latest instituted in a Republican-controlled state, and reflected the party’s continued mistrust of common voting practices, including the use of voting machines. It requires the use of hand-marked paper ballots statewide starting in 2023, with limited exceptions for certain touch-screen systems until the end of next year.Among the other changes is a prohibition against the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots — a practice that many Republicans criticized during the 2020 presidential election — and replacing Missouri’s presidential primary, held in recent years in March, with a series of caucuses.The proposal advanced in the spring from the Legislature, where its Republican sponsors have continued to cite unsubstantiated and nonspecific voter fraud claims — just as former President Donald J. Trump has done — as the impetus for the voter ID law.The law will take effect on Aug. 28, in time for the November election but not until after Missouri holds its primaries on Aug. 2.Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 that led to a previous set of voter ID rules, but the state Supreme Court gutted those rules in 2020. The rules had stipulated that voters without the required ID had to fill out an affidavit or use provisional ballots until their identity could be validated.The president of the League of Women Voters of Missouri told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch this month to expect legal challenges to the new law, which the group said could disenfranchise voters of color and those who are young or older.While paper ballots are already overwhelmingly used in Missouri, Republicans have sought to scale back the use of electronic voting equipment nationwide, spreading falsehoods that the devices were rigged during the 2020 presidential election.The new law repealed provisions enacted at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that permitted mail and absentee voting in the 2020 general election, but Republicans compromised with Democrats to allow two weeks of no-excuse in-person absentee balloting. However, those ballots must be submitted at a local election office. Military and overseas voters will still be permitted to mail their ballots.The law also makes it illegal for local election authorities to accept private donations in most circumstances. More