Democrats set for March 23 presidential preference primary

By Cameron Montemayor

Local Democratic voters will notice a different setup this year as the presidential preference primary scheduled for March 23 approaches.

Registered voters are eligible for in-person voting for the Democratic presidential preference primary from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 23, at the Rolling Hills Library upper story at 1904 N. Belt Highway as long as they are not on record as a Republican.

Unlike the Missouri Republican Party — which chose to institute presidential caucuses after the legislature voted to eliminate funding for the state-run primary — Missouri Democrats have opted to continue a presidential preference primary.

As part of the March 23 preference election, Democratic voters will fill out a private ballot like normal, but vote totals will be given to allocate delegates to candidates at the national convention.

“So this process actually gets folks to commit to a candidate and then if they care to, they can be involved in the state delegation at the convention or they can be in the national convention,” Walt Landis, chairman of the Buchanan County Democratic Committee, said. “If a person wants to register on the Missouri Democratic website for the delegate process, they’ll be directed there. And we encourage folks to go out to the website to see that.”

Those who wish to be a delegate can find a registration form at www.missouridemocrats.org/delegate-selection.

If a voter is registered but not as a Democrat, on-site certification will be available to ensure a person can vote. Because the primary is party-run this year, voters can cast a ballot at any in-person voting site and are not restricted to the county in which they reside.

“If a person wants to come in from an outside county and come to our location, we can verify their credentials at the Rolling Hills library location on that day and allow them to go ahead and cast their vote,” Landis said.

Voters also will have the opportunity to sign two initiative petitions supporting reproductive freedom and an increase in the minimum wage on Saturday at the Rolling Hills site.

“We’ll also have our House District candidates for the county here. So we’ll have local people if they care to visit with the candidates. We don’t have any speeches by those people scheduled for any specific time,” Landis said.

Mail-in ballots will be accepted until 10 a.m. on March 23 if one was requested on the party’s website before March 12. An announcement will be made by March 28 on the results of the primary after all votes have been tallied via scanning machines.

Missouri’s presidential preference primary is held on a separate day from elections to pick nominees for other races on the ballot like U.S. Senate, House and other state offices. The primary election for those races is in August.

2024 Democratic presidential candidates to appear on the ballot include:

Joe Biden

Dean Phillips

Stephen P. Lyons

Armando Perez-Serrato

Marianne Williamson

Jason Michael Palmer

Despite Democrats and Republicans successfully adjusting to the altered voting format, Landis is hopeful the state will return to the state-run primary system for the 2028 election cycle after concerns were raised from both parties following the change. Changes also left many voters confused about the process and concerned about turnout.

While state lawmakers argued moving to a caucus system would reduce state spending, the changes have instead shifted the costs to the parties themselves.

“This is a party-funded endeavor, and we’ve had to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to organize it and to print ballots and to have the online selection process in place. So it’s been negative for the party,” Landis said.