Voting is an important way each of us can put the public affairs mission into practice. We will have two opportunities to vote in the coming weeks.

Vote for MOSERS Board of Trustees

If you are a member of a MOSERS pension plan (I am, and most of you are, too), you will receive a ballot in the mail in early August for a MOSERS Board of Trustees election. This is a very important election, and I would encourage each of you to cast your vote.

A viable retirement plan is critically important for the university. Faculty and staff rely on the MOSERS pension plan for their future. The retirement plan is a significant asset in our efforts to recruit new faculty and staff to the university.

We all have a keen interest in seeing that MOSERS properly invests contributions, establishes reasonable actuarial assumptions and appropriately manages its overall business.

Missouri State contributes millions of dollars each year to MOSERS pension plans. Increases in the required contribution severely impact the university’s budget, dramatically increasing or decreasing the funds available for employee compensation.

As the MOSERS required contribution rate has increased over the past several years, Missouri State has become more and more engaged with the MOSERS administration and board.

It is for these reasons that it is more important than ever that all employees at Missouri State vote in the August election for MOSERS Board of Trustees.

Paul Wagner is one of the candidates running for the board. He is the chair of the Missouri Council on Public Higher Education, the association that represents Missouri State University and Missouri’s other public universities. I signed Paul’s petition to get on the ballot as did many other higher education leaders throughout the state. I am confident that Paul will represent our interests well on the MOSERS board.

Paul has indicated that he would be more than happy to talk to any of our employees who have questions about MOSERS or his board campaign. You can reach Paul at pdwagner@outlook.com or at 573-529-7195.

Vote on Aug. 7

The primary election is on Aug. 7. I would encourage each of you to become educated on the candidates and issues and cast your vote.

In addition to primaries for U.S. Senate, state auditor, Greene County presiding commissioner, and other federal, state and local offices, there are several issues on the ballot:

• Proposition A asks voters to approve or not approve the state right to work law.
• In the city of Springfield, Question 1 asks voters to establish or not establish a pit bull ban.

You can see the full list of candidates and issues that will be on the ballot in Greene County on the county clerk’s webpage.

Greene County voters can now vote at the Welcome Center

We are also excited to partner with the Greene County clerk’s office to offer a new option for voting on campus. Starting with the Aug. 7 election, if you are registered to vote anywhere in Greene County, you can vote in the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center instead of at your regular polling location.

The Welcome Center will be open for voting from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 7. We anticipate the Welcome Center will be open for voting again in the November election.

Please help us get word out about this opportunity to our students, employees and members of the community.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!