JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander has assembled a panel of county clerks and other officials to help shape a policy allowing for early voting.
Missouri now lets voters cast absentee ballots only if they swear they cannot go to the polls on Election Day or meet other, limited criteria. But the state has no general provision for early voting, which Kander says could help ease long lines at the polls.
Kander's appointed commission will meet throughout February to study the merits of early voting and evaluate what he says would be the efficient, fair and secure way to allow the practice.
Besides county clerks, the panel also includes former state lawmakers, the mayor of Joplin, a county elections director and private citizens.