The Missouri State Auditor’s Office announced Wednesday the application timeline for the position of nonpartisan state demographer, created by the passage of the “Clean Missouri” Amendment 1.
Last November, 62 percent of Missouri voters approved Amendment 1, which revised Article 3 of the state’s Constitution to change the process used to redraw House and Senate district boundaries, reduce limits on campaign contributions to state Legislature candidates, limit gifts to state lawmakers and their employees from paid lobbyists, and address other issues regarding money and transparency in state politics.
The amendment also created the position of nonpartisan state demographer — to be chosen by the state auditor from applications — to oversee the redistricting process.
The application for the position will be available Sept. 5 at auditor.mo.gov and will be open for 90 days, State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s office announced Wednesday.
“To ensure transparency, all submitted applications will be posted online,” according to an auditor’s office news release.
“Applications will be reviewed by the State Auditor’s Office Quality Control staff. Completed applications will then be delivered to the Senate majority and minority leaders. As required by Article III, Section 3 of the Missouri Constitution, Senate leadership has the duty of selecting the nonpartisan state demographer,” according to the news release.
A timeline from the State Auditor’s Office showed completed applications will be delivered to the Senate in January 2020.
“Qualifications for the position will be identical to the state’s current requirements for the existing position of state demographer, which is assigned to and employed by the Office of Administration. In addition, Senate Bill 213, which becomes law on August 28, outlines several new duties and expectations of the nonpartisan demographer. The legislation allows for the Office of Administration to provide ‘technical and clerical’ support for the nonpartisan demographer,” according to the news release.
The State Auditor’s Office assumes the nonpartisan demographer to be an employee in the Office of Administration.
The Office of Administration has previously estimated if the nonpartisan state demographer position were to be filled by someone other than the existing state demographer, the salary and benefits costs would be about $128,513 in the 2021 fiscal year, adjusted for inflation, according to an included letter from the State Auditor’s Office to the Office of Administration, dated Aug. 5.