Missouri state law specifies: “Bond elections may be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in February but no other issue shall be included on the ballot for such election.”

March elections are for charter cities and charter counties only.

The more common local election is the first Tuesday in April. This is where local elections happen for electing town aldermen, trustees or city council members. This election decides who will represent us on school boards, fire boards and ambulance boards. This election is also where local government bonds, taxes and tax rates are decided. Some examples include property tax rate increases, local sales tax rate increases, municipal or school bonds and school levy increases.

The problem with April elections is that a very small percent of the population turns out to vote. In April 2026, turn out state wide was less than 15 percent of registered voters. Some precincts only had 7 percent. This means a super minority of residents in a county or district decided who runs local government and how much all of us pay to fund local government. In some cases less than 3 percent of the actual population is making the decisions in a local election.

Senator Adam Schnelting filed Senate Bill 1002 to address this issue. His bill would have moved all school board elections to the November general election. The bill also would move school bond elections to November and standardize that all school board seats in Missouri become a four year term.

There was a lot of push back because it’s harder to pass a bond issue with a higher voter turnout in November.

Senator Schnelting revised his bill to only cover St. Charles County and not the whole state.

SB 1002 as revised has passed and sent to Governor Kehoe for approval:

This act requires all elections for school board members of any school district in which a majority of the district is located in St. Charles County to be held at the November general election and makes all such terms four years…The act further requires all proposals submitted to the voters of any school district in which a majority of the district is located in St. Charles County for the purpose of levying a new tax or renewing or increasing the levy of an existing tax, including for the issuance of bonded indebtedness, to be submitted at the November general election.

In 2027, the Missouri legislature should pass an update that includes all Missouri school districts, not just St Charles County.