Senator wants party affiliation required for primaries

Many of state Sen. Jay Wasson's southwest Missouri constituents want to change the Missouri law that lets voters register without declaring their political party affiliation.

So the Nixa Republican asked the Senate's Financial and Governmental Organizations and Elections Committee to endorse his bill, changing the law and creating closed primary elections.

Committee members didn't vote on the bill Monday, nor did it draw comments from anyone, for or against.

"I think there's examples - probably on both sides - where (people from) opposite parties have voted in another party's primary," Wasson told the panel. "I guess my thought is, in this bill - if you're going to elect folks from your party in a primary, to run in a general election, you probably ought to be of that party."