The Missouri legislature has recently changed the April municipal elections filing laws, which includes school board candidates — moving the opening day ahead a week and ending the filing period three weeks earlier.

Candidates for municipal offices, including school, fire, ambulance, and nursing home districts among others, typically have from mid-December to mid-January to sign up. This year, under the new state law, candidates for these board will have from to Dec. 7 until Dec. 28 to file notices of candidacy with their respective district or governing agency or the county election officials.

The change in state statute will also mean some area school districts may need to alter staff vacation plans over the Christmas holiday

Melissa Bauer, Gasconade County R-2 School District’s secretary to the Board of Education and the superintendent, said Monday morning that she had been made aware of the change.

“The (Administrative) office will be open Dec. 7 through Wednesday, Dec. 22 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” she said. “The last day of filing we will be open from 3 to 5 p.m.”

The Gasconade R-2 School District is scheduled to close for the break after Dec. 22, remain closed the following week, before reopening Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, when students are scheduled to return. The district’s offices are not scheduled to be open Monday, Dec.  27, due to the break. However, due to the new law, the office will open for two hours on Dec. 27 for the final day of the filing period.

The Gasconade R-2 Board of Education has two seats expiring — those currently held by Russ Farrell and Joyce Lowes.

Changes to the April election filing dates have not been discussed by the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education during the Oct. 18 meeting, but were discussed at the Maries County Board of Education meeting on Oct. 26.

Maries County R-2 Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham made the board of education aware of the change.

“We are not required to be open while closed for Christmas break,” Basham told the board. “We will be open on the last day of filing so people can come in and file (Dec. 28).”

The district will not accept filings on days they are closed for inclement weather, closure due to COVID-19, or when the offices are scheduled to be closed. However, the Administration Office will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Dec. 28 to allow for last day filing.

The ballot placement will still be by order of filing.

Basham said she had not received notification for the reason for the change.

“I have two terms expiring — Joey Butler and Dawn Hicks,” she said.

The board made a motion to approve the candidate filing period and advertise the change in the newspaper with a 7-0 vote.

Filing changes for all April elections

There are multiple municipal entities affected by this change in the registration period which previously had continued into January, including all cities, school districts, fire protection districts, ambulance districts, nursing home districts, E-911, special road districts, health departments, hospital districts, and public water supply districts.

Many of these entities also qualify for non-election law (RSMo 115.124) — if there is the same number of candidates per open seats, they are not required to have an election.

Gasconade County Clerk Lesa Lietzow said Tuesday that she and her staff have sent out 29 letters to the eight school districts who have elections in this county, the six municipalities, three fire districts and five ambulance districts notifying them of their requirements for holding an April election.

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, will remain the final day for all election paperwork to be returned to the county from the various municipal and taxing district entities which are required to advertise for candidates for elected offices. This deadline includes those entities which may not actually have an election due to the non-election law cited in RSMo. 115.124.

General municipal election day is April 5, 2022. March 9 is the last day to register to vote in the April 2022 election.