ST. CHARLES, Mo.—Citing procedurial issues, a St. Charles County judge on Friday dismissed a legal challenge to no-excuse absentee voting filed earlier this week.

What You Need To Know

  • Citing procedurial issues, a St. Charles County judge on Friday dismissed a legal challenge to no-excuse absentee voting filed earlier this week

  • At issue is whether state law requires watchers and challengers to be present during the entire voting process or just on Election Day

  • Judge Dwayne Johnson dismissed the request in a motion hearing, saying Heins, who represented himself in the matter, didn’t follow the rules of civil court procedure “in any shape or form”

  • After the hearing, Heins said he wasn’t making any allegation of fraud, but hoped the court would address what he says is a gap in the system following the 2022 law that added no-excuse absentee voting


 

Travis Heins, a St. Charles County Republican Committeeman from O’Fallon, filed the request for a temporary restraining order Wednesday after he said he was denied access as an elections “Watcher” and “Challenger” at the county’s two absentee voting sites in St. Peters and Wentzville. 

At issue is whether state law requires watchers and challengers to be present during the entire voting process or just on Election Day.

Judge Dwayne Johnson dismissed the request in a motion hearing, saying Heins, who represented himself in the matter, didn’t follow the rules of civil court procedure “in any shape or form.”

After the hearing, Heins said he wasn’t making any allegation of fraud, but hoped the court would address what he says is a gap in the system following the 2022 law that added no-excuse absentee voting. 

“We definitely need to get safeguards in place with poll watchers and poll challengers that are allowed on what Missouri is calling Election Day on Nov. 5th of this year. We have 14 other days of voting that we don’t have the same safeguards in place and that’s important,” he said.

Donald Looney, Chairman of the St. Charles County Democratic Central Committee, was in the courtroom to watch the proceedings. Afterward, questioned the timing of the challenge, in the middle of the voting process.

"We always need to have people paying attention to what’s going on. Does that mean I’m concerned about our process with the election authority or our elections here in St. Charles County? Not at all. And the law has measures for that for those concerns when they do arise," he said. 

“As we understand the statute, it is an Election Day only process. I think the legislature should relook at the statue and make it more clear about the absentee voting process,"  County Election Director Kurt Bahr said Thursday. “We are happy that St. Charles County voters will not have to worry about their ability to vote during the absentee period,” he said in a statement after the ruling Friday, while also reiterating his hope that lawmakers look at the issue when they return in January.

Johnson said he was willing to re-hear the case if Heins re-files. Heins told reporters he would take it under advisement but also suggested it as issue for state lawmakers to address moving forward.

The status of no-excuse absentee voting in St. Charles County was thrown into question when the original order was handed down by another judge on Wednesday, making it appear that voting would have to stop until Friday’s hearing. Bahr knew of the suit late Wednesday night but wasn’t officially served with it until Thursday morning after voting had already started. Johnson vacated the original order Thursday afternoon.

"Since 2020 we’ve had elections questioned for whatever reason so I don’t think this will be the last time we’ll hear of anything like this going forward," Looney said.