Missouri HB 1256: Establishes voting rights protections for minorities

Bill Text

FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1256
101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE AUNE.
2478H.01I DANA RADEMAN MILLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 115, RSMo, by adding thereto four new sections relating to elections, with
penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 115, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto four new sections, to be
2 known as sections 115.1060, 115.1065, 115.1070, and 115.1075, to read as follows:
115.1060. 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:
2 (1) "Federal voting rights act", the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C.
3 Section 10301, as amended;
4 (2) "Protected class", a class of eligible voters who are members of a race, ethnicity,
5 or language-minority group;
6 (3) "Racially polarized voting", voting in which there is a difference in the
7 candidate or electoral choice preferred by a protected class and the candidate or electoral
8 choice preferred by the rest of the electorate.
9 2. No voting qualification, prerequisite to voting, law, ordinance, standard,
10 practice, procedure, regulation, or policy shall be enacted or implemented by any local
11 election authority in a manner that results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any
12 member of a protected class to vote.
13 (1) A violation of this subsection shall be established if, based on the totality of the
14 circumstances, members of a protected class have less opportunity than other members of
15 the electorate to participate in the political process or elect candidates or electoral choices
16 preferred by members of the protected class.
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended
to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.

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17 (2) If assessing a potential violation of this section, the court may consider, but is
18 not limited to considering, the extent to which members of a protected class have been
19 elected to office in the state or political subdivision and the extent to which members of a
20 protected class in the state or political subdivision vote at lower rates than other members
21 of the electorate.
22 (3) There shall be a presumption of denial or abridgment of the right to vote if a
23 political subdivision election is held on a date that is not concurrent with the primary or
24 general election dates for the state or county and where, for three consecutive general
25 elections in which there is at least one contested race for an office, the number of actual
26 voters in each contested election is less than twenty-five percent of the total number of
27 votes cast in the most recent general election for President of the United States by voters
28 in the political subdivision, or in which, for any protected class consisting of at least
29 twenty-five thousand citizens of voting age or whose members comprise at least ten percent
30 of the citizen voting-age population, the percentage of members of that protected class who
31 are actual voters is at least twenty-five percent lower than the percentage of citizens of
32 voting age who are not members of that protected class who are actual voters.
33 3. Any method of election or voting used in this state shall not have the effect of
34 impairing the ability of members of a protected class to elect candidates of their choice or
35 influence the outcome of elections as a result of the dilution or the abridgment of the rights
36 of members of the protected class.
37 (1) A violation of this subsection shall be:
38 (a) Established if it is shown that candidates or electoral choices preferred by
39 members of the protected class would usually be defeated and either the voting patterns
40 of members of the protected class within the political subdivision are racially polarized or,
41 under the totality of the circumstances, the ability of members of the protected class to elect
42 candidates of their choice or influence the election is impaired; and
43 (b) Presumptively established if it is shown that the political subdivision used race,
44 ethnicity, or language-minority group, or another characteristic that serves as a proxy for
45 race, ethnicity, or language-minority group, for the purpose of apportionment. A political
46 subdivision shall only rebut this presumption by showing that race, ethnicity, language-
47 minority group, or another characteristic was used only to the extent necessary to comply
48 with this section, the federal voting rights act, or the Constitution of the United States.
49 (2) In assessing whether voting patterns of members of the protected class within
50 the political subdivision are racially polarized or electoral choices preferred by members
51 of the protected class would usually be defeated:

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52 (a) Elections conducted prior to the filing of an action under this subsection shall
53 be more pr