Even though filing closed for the Aug. 2 primary election on March 29, Jefferson County Clerk Ken Waller said he’s in no rush to have ballots printed up.
“There are some things that need to get decided first,” he said.
The pressing issue for weeks now is that the Missouri General Assembly has yet to approve a map of districts for the state’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the matter may end up in court.
The courts also will rule on whether Shannon Roden, who filed on the last day for county collector, may remain on the ballot.
Current Collector Michelle Worth, who is running for the Republican Party’s nomination for the seat in the Aug. 2 primary, filed a petition in Jefferson County Circuit Court last week asking that Roden be disqualified from running.
Roden is the wife of state Rep. Shane Roden, R-Cedar Hill, who is one of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the 22nd District state Senate seat.
Worth’s petition alleges that when Shannon Roden filed, she did not provide a required signed affidavit from a surety company licensed by the state that she met the requirements to be bonded.
“The state requires collectors to post a $750,000 bond,” Worth said. “This office deals with $300 million a year.”
The affidavit of bondability was received by the County Clerk’s Office on March 30, the day after filings closed.
A second count in Worth’s petition asserts that Shannon and Shane Roden paid 2021 personal property taxes on their vehicles in Cole County, where they own a house in Jefferson City. The petition states that the personal property tax rate is lower in Cole than Jefferson County, and since the Rodens did not pay personal property taxes in Jefferson County, Shannon Roden is not current in payment of taxes to Jefferson County.
The Rodens list an address in Cedar Hill as their home.
“I don’t have anything against her (Shannon Roden),” said Worth. “I don’t know her. I feel bad about this, but I’ve been advised by a lot of people that this is the right thing to do. She failed to meet the requirements by state statute for the office of collector of revenue.”
In a written response, Shannon Roden alleged that Worth has failed to maintain her eligibility to complete her current term.
Worth was appointed to succeed longtime collector Beth Mahn who stepped down for health reasons. A veteran of the collector’s office, Worth was appointed as a Democrat because under the county’s charter, a vacancy in an elected county office can be replaced only by someone of the same political party. Worth filed for the full four-year term on March 22 as a Republican.
In her statement, Roden called for Worth to forfeit the office immediately or for the County Council to terminate her employment.
“Ms. Worth should retain her position for the remainder of the year. Then she should immediately withdraw herself for the Republican nomination and file under the party affiliation to which she was appointed,” Roden said in the statement.
In response, Worth said, “there is nothing in the county charter that says I can’t do that (switch political parties). I was never affiliated with any party prior to having to declare one when Beth had to step down.”
Concerning Worth’s petition to remove her from the ballot, Shannon Roden wrote that she filed the proper paperwork when she filed and that “Jefferson County residents deserve better from their elected officials than to file frivolous lawsuits to ensure their election.”
Waller said he was optimistic the matter will be cleared up soon.
“The County Clerk’s Office does not have the authority to reject a filing for candidacy,” he said. “It’s now up to the court. I don’t think this is going to take a long time to resolve.”
Congressional map up in air
Under federal law, federal, state and local districts must be realigned every 10 years after the Census to account for shifts in population. The map for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives has yet to be finalized.
The state House approved a map and sent it to the Senate, which, after weeks of filibustering to avoid voting on it, approved its own map. House representatives asked for a committee meeting to resolve the differences between the two, but their Senate counterparts declined to participate. The House then overwhelmingly voted against the Senate’s map.
The House version, which was championed by Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Imperial), chairman of that chamber’s House Redistricting Committee, placed all of Jefferson County in the 3rd District, a seat now held by Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth).
After the maps were redrawn 10 years ago, Jefferson County, which traditionally had been in the 3rd District, was split between the 3rd, the 2nd District (now held by Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin) and the 8th District (now held by Jason Smith, R-Salem).
The Senate’s version would put all of Jefferson County in a far-flung 8th District, which would include the Bootheel region and go as far west as Taney County near Springfield.
State law says that if a new map is not enacted, the current one would continue to be used, but three lawsuits have been filed to prevent that.
The suits contend that because of population shifts over the last decade, the eight districts are no longer close to having the same number of people. When that happens, the suits contend, votes cast from districts with fewer people have a disproportionate weight than those with far more residents.
The most recent suit was filed by officials of the state’s Republican Party, including Hillsboro attorney Derrick Good, the state party’s secretary.
The congressional map is the only one still up in the air.
A bipartisan group of 20 people drew up new lines for state House of Representative seats, and when a separate bipartisan committee failed to agree on a new state Senate map, that chore fell to a group of six appellate court judges.
For Jefferson County, the new map is fairly similar to the 2010 model: The north part of the county will still be in District 22 (now held by Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, who because of term limits cannot run again and has filed for Jefferson County executive) and District 3 (now held by Elaine Freeman Gannon, R-De Soto).
“They’ll eventually have to get a new map in place,” Waller said. “The state Legislature will then have to decide if they’re going to reopen the filings for the congressional seats.”
Waller said by state law, printed ballots have to be in the office six weeks before the election date to allow for absentee voting, or by mid-June.
“Of course, we have to allow our printer enough time to turn that work around,” he said. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”