April 21, 2020

Jake Zimmerman calls on County Election Board to implement mail-in voting

(Clayton, MO – April 21, 2020) – “No voter – not a single one – should have to choose between protecting  their health and casting their vote,” St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman told the St. Louis County Election Board today, calling for bold action by the Board to safeguard both the health of voters and their right to vote.  

Zimmerman told the Board that their “hearts were in the right place” last week when they mailed out absentee ballot applications for voters meeting “high risk” criteria for Coronavirus infection, but told the Board this action is not enough.

 Zimmerman encouraged the Board to take two further steps to assure fair, open, and safe elections in 2020.

First, the Board should mail actual absentee ballots – not applications – to every registered voter before every 2020 election.  

Second, the Board should affirm that absentee voting due to concerns about possible coronavirus exposure meets the legal requirement of absentee voting due to “incapacity or confinement due to illness.”  This would eliminate the notarization requirement for absentee ballots, making absentee voting as simple as filling out the ballot and mailing it in.

 Doing any less, Zimmerman said, could endanger the health and the voting rights of thousands of St. Louis County voters.  

“In this time of pandemic and stay-at-home orders, a “vote by mail” option is the sensible, safe choice for many of us, and it should be your choice to make,” Zimmerman told voters.  He encouraged voters to support his call for mail-in voting by contacting the Election Board at stlouiscovotes@stlouisco.com.