In a late summer hearing of the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee Tuesday, GOP leaders discussed potential legislation mirroring the talking points of former President Donald Trump, who helped spread debunked election fraud theories after he lost the 2020 election.

“Our goal is to be prepared when we come back in January to hit the ground running,” said Rep. Dan Shaul, an Imperial Republican who is running for a seat in the Missouri Senate.

The latest push by Republicans comes in a year where Trump sowed the seeds of distrust in an election process he ultimately lost, culminating in a mob of insurrectionists descending on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a deadly and failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Rep. John Simmons, R-Washington, said one of Trump’s legacies will be a renewed focus on the safety of elections, even though Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has repeatedly said elections under his watch have run smoothly.

Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar, also said she doesn’t believe Missouri’s voting process was compromised in previous elections. But, she said, citizens must be assured elections are clean.

“We must do everything to reveal the weaknesses in our election system and fix it,” Kelley told the panel. “We must be able to trust our elections.”

Kelley said her concerns were stoked by her attendance at a symposium hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump supporter who has repeated debunked claims that voting machines were hacked to flip votes for Trump to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Rep. Kevin Windham, D-Uplands Park, said lawmakers should not make laws to address imaginary or unproven problems in an attempt to suppress voter turnout.

Rep. Donna Baringer, D-St. Louis, said lawmakers should focus on cybersecurity affecting utilities and other more critical infrastructure.

“Our weakness in the state of Missouri is not our elections,” Baringer said.

“We don’t need to keep generating fear in people’s minds,” added Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City.

Among proposed changes floated earlier this year is a prohibition on sending out absentee ballot applications unless voters specifically request them.

Two other proposals would change the primary election process in the state, one by restricting participation to registered party members, the other by eliminating presidential primaries entirely.

Lawmakers also raised concerns about voting machines and their ability to be hacked, despite assurances by current and former county election officials that the current system is secure.

The committee also heard testimony on legislation that would erect more barriers to putting citizen-led questions before voters, including adding filing fees and raising the bar for passage.

The proposals are aimed at recent ballot initiatives that sought to enact policies opposed by Republicans, such as the August 2020 voter-approved expansion of Medicaid and the 2018 legalization of medical marijuana.

Jen Bernstein, advocacy director for the National Council of Jewish Women’s St. Louis chapter, told the panel that raising the bar for getting an issue on the ballot is anti-democratic.

“We feel these are blatant attempts to silence the voices of the voters,” Bernstein said.

Republicans last year introduced legislation that would enact a $500 filing fee for groups to file a proposed petition in a bid to cut down on the scores of proposals that the secretary of state must process. It also would standardize the paperwork used to collect signatures and expand the number of words allowed on the official summary statement of the petition.

Supporters said the changes will streamline the process and eliminate duplicative or frivolous petitions.

In 2019, the Secretary of State’s Office estimated requiring a $500 refundable fee could lead to a 75% reduction in initiative petitions.

Republicans also want to increase the threshold for petitions to win approval.

Missouri’s constitution allows passage of amendments if a simple majority approves. Unlike statutory changes, the Legislature doesn’t have the ability to alter constitutional amendments.

Legislation has been filed that would boost that level to 66% of voters.

That threshold would have killed the effort to expand Medicaid, which passed with 53% support last year. The effort to legalize medical marijuana would have also been snuffed out after garnering 65.6% of the vote two years ago.

Originally posted at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.