Besides the Missouri election law bill mentioned in the preceding post, several other interesting election law bills are pending in the Missouri legislature. HB 1183, by Representative Mark Parkinson, a Republican, would cancel the Missouri presidential primary now set for February 7. The bill was introduced on January 5, but the fact that it has not made any headway at all shows that it has no chance of passing. If it were being taken seriously, it should already have passed. The rationale for the bill is that the Missouri Republican 2012 presidential primary is just a “beauty contest” and Republicans choose their delegates to the national convention in caucuses in March. Of course if the bill had passed, it would also have canceled the Democratic, Constitution and Libertarian presidential primaries. Thanks to Josh Putnam of Frontloading HQ for news of this bill.

Representative Mike Colona, a Democrat, has introduced HB 1415, to restore the straight-ticket device to Missouri general election ballots.

Representative Tony Dugger, a Republican, has introduced HB 1036, which provides that general election ballots would no longer carry a party logo for any party. A “party logo” is a cartoon-like drawing showing the emblem of each party. The bill’s author introduced the bill at the request of county election officials. They say that some voters draw a circle around one party’s logo, and then leave the remainder of the ballot blank. Election officials guess that such voters think the logo is a straight-ticket device, but in reality they are just depositing a blank ballot. Removing the logo should cure the confusion. The bill has already passed the House Elections Committee and has a hearing in the House Rules Committee on January 30.