Area voter registration setting records

Voter registrations in some Southeast Missouri counties have already set records, and prospective voters have one more day to add to the surge.

Cape Girardeau County has 50,996 registered voters as of Tuesday afternoon, a number that has increased by 1,636 since the Aug. 5 primary, County Clerk Kara Clark said. That number is more than 1,000 more than the previous high point, set in 2006.

And in Scott County, voter rolls have grown by more than 1,200 voters since the April municipal elections, County Clerk Rita Milam said. Her registration lists have 27,157 names, nearly 600 more than the record set in 1998.

"We have a lot of people coming in to our office, coming into the courthouse," Milam said. "And we have a lot of groups out there registering people."

Both clerks expect a big turnout for the Nov. 4 election. Clark said she's ordered enough ballots to make sure that if every voter goes to the polls, she will be ready. State law requires that election officials print one-third more ballots than the turnout in the most recent similar election. In 2004, almost 72 percent of the registered voters in Cape Girardeau County cast ballots.

"We are just expecting a very high turnout," Clark said.

Clark said her office was busy Tuesday accepting additional registrations and providing help to voters requesting absentee ballots.

In Perry County, the voter rolls include 11,456 active voters plus more than 900 "inactive" voters, those who have not voted recently and for whom a letter to verify their address was returned, County Clerk Randy Taylor said.

Taylor said he's registered 363 new voters since July 1 and expects the total registration rolls will exceed the record 12,016 reported for the 2006 election.

Bollinger County Clerk Diane Holzum was unable to provide up-to-date figures but said the number of new registrations has not been as active as other jurisdictions report. "We have had a lot of calls from people wanting to make sure everything is right."

Holzum purged her voting rolls of people who had not taken part in two consecutive elections in 2004 and 2006, cutting about 1,500 people from the lists. She said the current registration rolls are close to the 7,916 who were eligible to vote in the 2006 election.

Clerks reported using various methods to verify registrations that come via postcards. When information on the postcards is incomplete, Milam said, her workers try to call the voter to obtain the necessary information.

How to register

In Cape Girardeau County, Clark said new voters will be asked to verify their registration by showing identification. Valid identification includes a driver's license or a Social Security card and utility bill verifying the address, among others.

Clark said her office has been receiving a large number of postcard registrations. "We are getting probably a two-inch stack every week," she said. "They are all being processed, and I thought it would be duplicates, but it is new residents."

Voters may register at the county clerk's office by the close of business Wednesday to be eligible to vote in the Nov. 4 election. Voters who have changed their address within a county may change their address at any time up to and including Election Day.

Clerks are accepting applications for absentee ballots. To receive an absentee ballot in the mail, the request must be received by Oct. 29. Voters wishing to vote absentee in person may do so until the close of business Nov. 3.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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