BY: KATIE TARANTO AND SIGI RIS
President Joe Biden was expected to sweep Missouri Democrats’ presidential primary Saturday, although he already secured enough delegates nationally to receive the Democratic nomination earlier this month.
In the 2020 state-run presidential primary, more than 660,000 voters cast ballots for the Democratic Party, according to data from the Secretary of State. This year, turnout was expected to be significantly lower, said Matthew Patterson, executive director of Missouri Democrats.
“I mean, Joe Biden’s already locked the nomination,” Patterson said. “It’s not a lack of energy or anything like that. It’s just, people know he’s already the nominee.”
The state party had received about 11,000 mail-in ballots as of Saturday afternoon, said Lyra Noce, chair of Boone County Democrats.
Missouri Democrats decided to host an in-person election and provide mail-in options to voters for the primary election after the state eliminated funding for the presidential primary in 2022. State Republicans held a caucus March 2 and Libertarians hosted a nominee selection conference in St. Louis on Feb. 24.
Boone County voters cast in-person ballots from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Activity & Recreation Center on West Ash Street.
Democratic voters had the opportunity to request a mail-in ballot from Feb. 1 through March 12. This year, Noce said the statewide party automatically sent over 27,000 mail-in ballots to registered Democrats across Missouri. Ballots were also sent to voters upon request.
Participants were required to be a registered voter but could not be registered with the Republican Party. In Missouri, it’s optional for voters to register by political party affiliation.
In Boone County’s 2020 primary, just over 30,000 people cast ballots, according to the Boone County clerk’s website.
Noce said although some ballots have experienced a postal delay, the party will accept them until March 30.
“We are assured that they will continue counting the ballots that are received seven days after the election,” Noce said.
About 375 voters participated in Saturday’s in-person Boone County voting, Noce said. As county party chair, she expressed frustration with the new primary system, which has forced the state’s major political parties to fund and execute their own primary selection processes.
“The Republican legislature passed this law and it wasn’t up to the Democrats, they still have a supermajority,” Noce said. “Our goals are to try and break that.”
Voters chose between Biden, Dean Phillips, Stephen Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato, Marianne Williamson, Jason Michael Palmer and “Uncommitted.” The statewide party will announce its winner by Thursday.
Mary Ratliff, president of the Columbia NAACP, went out to vote with her daughter Saturday. Ratliff said the 2024 presidential election is “one of the most important ones that we have ever had.”
“When Donald Trump talks about MAGA — Make America Great Again — he’s talking about, go back to where we were … that takes us back to slavery,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff voted for Biden on Saturday because she believes American democracy is at stake.
“If Joe Biden does not win, we will not have a democracy,” Ratliff said.
Some Boone County voters did not choose any of the six candidates on the ballot, instead opting to vote “Uncommited” — reflecting large divisions in the Democratic Party.
Nathan Gilbert, a 19-year-old student at the University of Missouri, was one of those voters. Gilbert was motivated to vote uncommitted because of how the party has handled the Israel-Hamas war, which he called a genocide. The Associated Press has reported that over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7.
“With everything that’s going on in Palestine, it’s important to send a message across the Democratic Party,” Gilbert said. “They need to get their act together, fix what they’re doing and give more relief and support to Palestine during this time.”
Gilbert also voiced frustrations with the party on other issues like reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights and racial injustices, which he said have become major conservative talking points that remain unaddressed by Democrats.
“I think that a lot of these problems are just being swept under the rug,” Gilbert said. “I think we just don’t have much acknowledgement of the diversity of the parties.”
Noce said the new system has created difficulties in notifying voters and getting media coverage. The Missouri Press Association designated information on the party’s primary as political communications that would require paid designation and advertisement fees, she said.
“They’re treating it as a party activity instead of a voter activity,” Noce said.
Noce gave out her cell phone number to voters to assist with election-related barriers.
“Accessibility has been a real sticking point for me with volunteers, even with the mail-in ballots,” Noce said. “We can’t provide the same services that a state-run election can.”
The party said statewide primary results are expected to be announced by Thursday, but Patterson said he expects them sooner.
This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.