Ensuring certainty in our election results

I have had the privilege of serving as the State Representative for Missouri's 108th district for five years. In 2018, 11,097 voters -- over 61% of the electorate -- supported my bid to continue representing them in Jefferson City. In 2016, 14,271 votes were cast in support of my reelection -- 68% of the vote. Our confidence in the exactitude of these numbers should not be taken for granted. We know that they are correct because Missouri has appropriate election safeguards that increase our certainty in our election results.

This year, against the backdrop of coronavirus, there has been a nationwide effort to dismantle such safeguards. Organizations like the ACLU have sued state governments all over the country, using the courts to bypass the legislature and either reverse or create policies outside the legislative framework.

Groups like these only have as much power as the courts allow. Three weeks ago, the Missouri Supreme Court gave them a blank check when they allowed an ACLU lawsuit to continue. If successful, the lawsuit will wipe out necessary election safeguards intentionally included by the legislature, opening Pandora's Box to more policy changes by unelected officials. Earlier this week, a lower court again determined that the lawsuit had no merit, but the plaintiffs will almost certainly appeal, and the saga will continue.

The issue at hand concerns Missouri House Bill 631, a legislative victory that expanded ballot access in the wake of COVID-19 while preserving necessary election safeguards. Prior to the bill's passage, absentee voters in Missouri were required to select why they were not able to vote in person: reasons included working the polls, for example, or illness. Under House Bill 631, Missourians who are at a high risk of adverse effects from COVID-19, including those over age 65 or who are immunocompromised, are able to vote absentee. They do not need to notarize their ballot's return envelope.

Additionally, for the first time in our state's history, any other Missourian also has the option to vote absentee, by checking the "mail-in ballot request" box on the request form. Voters who check this box must have their return ballot notarized. The notary process is a simple, familiar, and costless election safeguard that almost all Missouri absentee voters already use. This safeguard ensures that the system is only being used by those who need to use it, ensuring our system is not swamped and voters are not disenfranchised.

House Bill 631 is a compromise measure, carefully discussed and debated among my colleagues in the Missouri House and Senate to create the best possible legislation that ensures both safe and secure elections. Because of the Missouri Supreme Court's decision to allow the ACLU's lawsuit against this policy to continue, this careful and deliberative compromise is now at risk of being gutted.

The Missouri Supreme Court does not answer to constituents. It is imperative that Supreme Court justices do not write, or overwrite, policies. They are not accountable to the public for the consequences of policies.

Make no mistake, if the Court continues their judicial activism and rewrites election policy without the input of legislators, such consequences could be very grave. Look at our neighbors to the northeast. With unprecedented absentee ballots in their April primary, Ohio's postal system cracked under the pressure. Hundreds of ballots did not make it to the polling office on time. Hundreds of voters were simply disenfranchised.

Or take Pennsylvania. When ballot requests swamped the Elections Office, mail was delayed and incorrect ballots sent out. Pennsylvania's governor extended the deadlines for ballots from six counties to arrive to the Elections Office by a full week. While the ballots still had to be postmarked by Election Day, it does not exactly encourage confidence in election results when they are delayed for weeks after the election.

In Missouri, our voters have asked for better than this. Even as the elderly and ill have asked for more opportunities to vote absentee during this COVID-19 pandemic, they have also asked for the assurances offered by the election safeguards in House Bill 631. By taking a step towards eliminating these safeguards, the Missouri Supreme Court ignores the voters who cannot hold them accountable.

Justin Hill (R-Lake St. Louis) is a state representative in the Missouri General Assembly.