ABSENTEE VOTING UNDER WAY; OFFICE PLANS SATURDAY HOURS

The voter registration office will be open from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday at the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex in Cape Girardeau, to give voters a chance to cast absentee ballots for Tuesday's election.

Absentees can also be voted in person until 4:30 p.m. today, and from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday.

Lois Boston, voter registration clerk for the county, said Wednesday that about 175 people had cast absentee ballots for Tuesday's election on whether to have riverboat gambling in the city of Cape.

In June, when the issue was last on the ballot, there were 443 absentees cast in person at Boston's office.

Boston said she does not expect the number to reach quite that high this time, since this is not vacation season.

Polls will be open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.