This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 10, 2011 - Missouri's two major parties have split over Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of an election-related bill that, among other things, moved Missouri's presidential primary back to March 2012 -- a move mandated by both national parties.
Nixon vetoed the bill Friday over other provisions that would have:
-- Eliminated elections in communities with populations under 35,000, when the number of candidates equalled the number of offices. The effect would have prevented write-in candidates. Nixon said in his veto letter that such action improperly curbed voters' rights.
-- Required special elections when statewide officials leave office in midterm, thus ending the power of the governor to appoint replacements. Nixon said such a requirement would cost taxpayers $7 million every time such a special election would be held.
Such appointments are rare, but discussion about the gubernatorial power came up last year when Secretary of State Robin Carnahan ran for the U.S. Senate. If she had won, Nixon would have named her replacement to fill out the term.
In any case, his veto does put both parties in a quandary over what to do to comply with the national parties' mandate that allows only four states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- to hold presidential primaries or caucuses before March 1.
The penalty is stiff. The errant state would lose half of their delegates and alternates to each party's 2012 presidential convention.
The Missouri legislature would need to pass a revised bill almost immediately after it goes into session in early January in order for there to be time to move the February primary back to March.
The Missouri Republican Party was swift to condemn the veto, while the state Democratic Party not surprisingly sided with Nixon.
Republican Party chairman David Cole called for the GOP-controlled General Assembly to override the veto during the September veto session. Said Cole in a statement:
"In an extraordinarily irresponsible and shortsighted move, Governor Jay Nixon has disrupted the presidential nominating process with the stroke of a pen. By vetoing the bipartisan elections bill, Nixon has ensured that Missourians' votes for the next President of the United States will not matter as much as those from 49 other states.
"This is yet another example of Nixon's absolute refusal to lead. He had ample time to express his concerns as this bill was being crafted, debated, and passed by an overwhelming number of Republicans and Democrats. Instead, he chose to remain on the sidelines—and Missourians will suffer.
"We hope that members of both parties will once again join together and protect Missouri's role in the nomination process by overriding Nixon's reckless veto."
Said state Democratic Party executive director Matt Teter:
"We join the Governor in support of moving Missouri's presidential primary back a few weeks to comply with the rules of both political parties, but unfortunately the Republican legislature was more concerned with sneaking provisions into a bill to achieve their narrow political objectives.
"Those provisions would have cost taxpayers millions of dollars and stripped away the rights of many Missourians to vote in their local municipal elections. If anyone is upset about Missouri's current early presidential primary date, they have nobody to blame but the Republican legislature for passing this flawed bill."
