Missouri Gov. Mike Parson plays politics with Medicaid expansion. Is he afraid of voters?

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday he would put the state’s Medicaid expansion referendum on the Aug. 4 ballot this year.

“This was about policy, not politics,” he said, with a straight face.

Parson, a Republican, opposes expanding Medicaid, which would provide health care coverage to an estimated 300,000 low-income Missourians. He may think a low-turnout election will hurt the measure’s chances at the polls.

The governor also fears a November vote because he’ll likely be on that ballot. By holding the vote in August, Parson and other Republican candidates can avoid questions about Medicaid expansion while campaigning in the fall.

In short, the governor is playing politics with the people’s right to be heard in November in a high-turnout, presidential-year general election.

While it’s disappointing, this gambit won’t work. Despite what the governor and his allies believe, Missouri voters are certainly smart enough to see through Parson’s partisan ploy. They will turn out in August, not only to support expanding Medicaid but also to send a clear message that they don’t like having their right to vote messed with for political advantage.

That’s a message Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft should hear.

It isn’t rare for a Missouri governor to play politics with elections. It is unusual, though — or used to be — for a secretary of state to so brazenly turn voting rights into a partisan matter.

The Medicaid proposal is on the ballot because of initiative petitions, gathered by supporters of expansion and signed by more than 340,000 Missourians.

Normally, a Missouri secretary of state would send those signatures to local election boards to make sure petitioners are valid voters. In this case, though, Ashcroft used an unusual procedure to rapidly spot-check the petitions, shortening the certification process.

Why? So Parson could order the August vote. Tuesday was the deadline for putting something on that ballot.

This isn’t the first time Ashcroft has tried to manipulate a ballot. Last year, he rejected an abortion rights petition, an action later found illegal by state courts. His obstinance eventually ensured petitioners would run out of time to gather signatures for a referendum.

This year, Ashcroft resisted expanding absentee voting in Missouri unless it was coupled with a dubious photo ID requirement, another method of suppressing the vote. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Ashcroft is the most anti-vote secretary of state in modern Missouri history.

It need not be this way. Missourians have a chance to send a loud and clear message this year at the ballot box in favor of the right to petition, and in support of a secretary of state who wants to encourage voting, not suppress it.

We first suggested a petition drive for Medicaid expansion in 2017. The Missourians who organized a petition drive to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot should be commended for bringing this issue to voters. Now it’s incumbent upon supporters to wage an honest, aggressive, transparent campaign during the next 10 weeks.

Missourians will respond at the polls despite the attempt by Parson and Ashcroft to make sure they don’t have a voice.