Citing the “growing concern surrounding COVID-19,” Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday signed an executive order postponing municipal elections throughout the state, which had been slated for April 7, until June 2.

The postponement affects several municipal and school board elections throughout Cape Girardeau County as well as several sales tax issues, including extension of the half-cent Transportation Trust Fund sales tax in Cape Girardeau and a new proposed countywide half-cent law enforcement and public safety sales tax.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers told the Southeast Missourian earlier this week there was a possibility the April election might be postponed and said she and other county clerks from across the state had been in contact to discuss the subject.

“As of Tuesday, I was prepared to conduct the election,” Summers said. “In preparation, I had ordered gloves, masks, more hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes and we were going to have somebody (at polling places) wiping down booths and pens after each voter.”

However, she said several volunteers had “expressed concern” about working the election as scheduled and several polling locations have been temporarily closed during the COVID-19 outbreak making them unavailable for the election.

“There would have been some hurdles to overcome if the election was held on April 7,” she said.

According to a statement from Parson’s office, the decision to delay the election was made following a request from Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and was in consideration of “the large number of people elections attract.”

Parson’s executive order stipulates ballots already printed for the April 7 election will be used June 2 and eligible registered voters who have attained the age of 18 by April 7 will be allowed to cast ballots.

“Postponing Missouri’s municipal elections is a necessary step to help combat the spread of the virus and protect the health and safety of Missouri’s voters,” the governor said. “Postponing an election is not easy, but we are all in this together.”

Missouri statutes provide that under a state of emergency, such as the one declared last week, the governor is authorized to “waive or suspend the operation of any statutory requirement or administrative rule prescribing procedures for conducting state business, where strict compliance with such requirements and rules would prevent, hinder or delay necessary action by the Department of Health and Senior Services to respond to a declared emergency or increased health threat to the population.”

Although the election date has been pushed back, the last day to register to vote (March 11) or file as a write-in candidate (March 27) remain unchanged. However, the deadline to request an absentee ballot is now May 20 and in-person absentee ballots can now be cast until 5 p.m. June 1.

Election authorities, such as the Cape Girardeau County Clerk’s Office, will post details about the rescheduled election schedule on their websites and other public information channels.