RICHMOND – The Secretary of State’s Office has reminded candidates of a change in election filing dates.

The change affects when candidates can start filing and when filing ends for the April general municipal elections, including in Excelsior Springs.

Ray County Clerk Glenda Powell said she is not a fan of the statewide change.

“It was a bad idea,” she said.

Powell said the General Assembly made the change.

“They wanted it so that (filings) would all be done in the same year. They thought it would make it easier for us,” she said. “It gives us a shorter time for people to sign up and, no, it doesn’t make it any easier for us because we still have to do all the paperwork.”

State lawmakers made the decision without approval from the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Elections Authorities. Group members oversee most elections.

Powell said she doubts the change will affect candidates much.

“As long as they’re paying attention to the paper,” she said, or otherwise they might not plan to sign up until January, when doing so would be too late. “It shortens the time, and then you have Christmas, and that shortens the time more. You only have three weeks, and now, you have Christmas in there.

“That’s my concern.”

Filing starts at 8 a.m. Dec. 7, filing ends at 5 p.m. Dec. 28 and the election occurs April 5. The new dates reduce filing times by two weeks, as approved by the General Assembly.

Municipal elections include school boards, city councils, fire districts and other political subdivisions.

Representing Ray and Carroll counties, Rep. Peggy McGaugh disagreed with making the date changes in the legislation sponsored by a fellow Republican.

The state’s top election authority, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican, took no position on the bill, though he suggested there could be a cost savings. A former county clerk, McGaugh told MissouriNet she did not envision the bill would save money.

Another change involving municipal elections is being pushed by Ashcroft. He would make municipal elections partisan, meaning that, to run for a school board or city council seat, a person could announce party affiliation.