How long do Democrats have to get a presidential candidate on Kansas, Missouri ballots?
There will be a new president in 2025 after President Joe Biden announced he will not be seeking reelection. Biden, along with a few others, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
It’s not set in stone that Harris will be the nominee, as delegates from Kansas, Missouri and the rest of the country will make their choice official at the convention from Aug. 19 to 22 in Chicago.
Kansas and Missouri voters will then have a few months to prepare for the November election between the final Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump, who was nominated at the Republican National Convention in July.
Both states wait to finalize the names that appear on the general election ballot after Republicans and Democrats hold their national conventions.
Have any ballots been printed?
This differs between states, but no ballots have been printed for the general election yet, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said Monday.
“There are still Congressional and state primaries in some states until September,” said Kristen Muthig, EAC’s director of communications, in an email.
This includes Missouri and Kansas, whose primaries aren’t until Aug. 6.
State-by-state ballot mailing and certification deadlines dictate when ballots need to be final. Here are Missouri’s and Kansas’ deadlines — and if the Democrats are likely to make it.
When is Missouri’s print ballot deadline?
In Missouri, state law typically requires political parties to certify to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office the nominees no later than the 12th Tuesday prior to the presidential election. Since Election Day is Nov. 5, the 12th Tuesday before the election is Aug. 13.
But the Democratic National Convention doesn’t take place until after that deadline. In that case, Missouri law says the party has seven working days after the convention to certify its nominees. If the DNC ends as scheduled Aug. 22, the deadline will likely be Sept. 3, the Tuesday after Labor Day.
It gets more complicated. Missouri law also requires the secretary of state to send to local election officials a certified list of candidates no later than the 10th Tuesday before the election, in this case, Aug. 27. That day falls before the deadline for Democrats to certify their nominees, but the party would likely seek to provide their certification by the earlier deadline.
Early voting begins for some Missourians on Sept. 18.
When is Kansas’s deadline to print ballots?
There is no official deadline for the political parties to certify their nominees in Kansas, but the parties must certify their choices to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office.
The parties typically certify their nominees soon after the conventions. In 2020, Democrats certified Biden as the nominee Aug. 20 and then-President Donald Trump was certified as the Republican nominee Sept. 2, according to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office.
Advance voting will begin in Kansas on Oct. 16.
The Star’s Jonathan Shorman contributed to this report
This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 12:48 PM.
