Politics

The coronavirus pandemic exposed Missouri’s complex absentee balloting system.

Before 2020, voters needed to check off a specific excuse to vote earlier. But on the final day of this year’s General Assembly regular session, lawmakers expanded how Missourians could cast an absentee ballot in a manner that many found confusing and unintuitive.

With that absentee ballot expansion set to go away at the end of the year, some election officials and lawmakers want to keep things simple on how to permanently change how Missourians vote early.

Missouri’s attorney general has launched a new unit in his office that will focus on unsolved homicides and other serious crimes.

“Tragically, Missouri has dozens of murder cases across the state that have remained unsolved for years, even decades. Those victims must not be forgotten,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Thursday at a news conference in St. Louis announcing the unit. “Every case that remains unsolved is more than a stat. They are human beings. To seek justice and hold perpetrators accountable is our mission.”

The Missouri Senate is postponing its portion of the special legislative session related to COVID-19 liability and federal funding because of positive coronavirus cases in the chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, tweeted on Monday that the decision is “in the best interest of protecting members, staff, and the public.”

Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said that on top of the special legislative session, the Senate was supposed to hold orientation for new members, which also has been postponed.