ST. LOUIS—Missouri Republican and Democratic party officials may not agree on much of anything, but it appears they have found consensus about one thing: a hope that the state returns to a traditional presidential primary in 2028.

In 2022, state lawmakers eliminated the state-run presidential primaries as part of a larger election bill that added early voting and voter ID components. Efforts to restore the primary failed to get traction in 2023, leaving the parties to come up with their own procedures to choose presidential candidates and delegates to their national conventions.

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Democrats:

The Missouri Democratic Party is holding a hybrid event that includes mail-in ballots and in-person voting at locations across the state between 8 a.m. and noon on March 23. 

President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., Stephen P Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato, Marianne Williamson and Jason Michael Palmer are all eligible candidates. Phillips suspended his campaign. Williamson, who had previously suspended her bid, has re-engaged. Voters may also mark themselves as “unaffiliated” but may not write in other candidates. 

What do you need to do to participate?

  • Needed to have been registered as a Democrat or as unaffiliated by Feb. 21

  • Turn 18 on or before the date of the general election on Nov. 5

  • Anyone who requested ballots by mail must return them to the party by 10 a.m. on March 23

  • There are multiple voting sites in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions. Voters will need a valid government-issued photo ID and can vote in any county. Voters can return completed mail-in ballots to an in-person voting site if necessary.

Votes will be counted by March 25, with an announcement of the winner by March 28.

Missouri will send 70 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Those delegates will be determined in May and June.

Republicans:

The Missouri GOP held local county-level caucuses on March 2 as the first step in ultimately assigning 54 delegates who will represent the state party at the national convention in Milwaukee in July.

Former President Donald Trump carried each county and the city of St. Louis in caucuses that were generally problem-free with the exception of St. Louis County's second congressional district site at Parkway West High School, where a flood of participants who didn't pre-register delayed the start of the event, which then saw in-fighting between different segments of Trump supporters.