AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Missouri’s Democratic presidential primary

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden goes before Missouri primary voters on Saturday, and much has changed since the last time he was on the state’s ballot seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

For starters, the day after Biden defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont by 26 percentage points in the 2020 primary, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and life around the globe was upended.

Two years later, after voting and election administration issues became highly politicized during the 2020 campaign, Missouri Republicans pushed through a package of stricter voting requirements that included a provision canceling state-run presidential primaries and turning that responsibility over to state parties.

Saturday’s primary is the Missouri Democratic Party’s first party-run presidential contest since the law took effect in August 2022. The event is not an Iowa-style caucus, where participants vote by moving around the room to form candidate preference groups and deliberate with other caucusgoers. Missouri voters will show up at a voting center, cast a secret ballot and leave as soon as they have turned in that ballot.

Republicans held presidential caucuses earlier in the month, and that event more closely resembled the old Iowa format.

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