BOTH STATE, FEDS EASE VOTER REGISTRATION

JACKSON - Legislative action taken this year at both the state and federal levels will make it easier for citizens to register to vote.

In Missouri, the General Assembly approved a bill to allow registration by mail, and Congress has approved a so-called "motor voter" bill that will enable people to register or make changes in their voting address when they renew driver's licenses.

Details of both measures are still being developed, but last week Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller and some members of his staff participated in an elections training session hosted by the Missouri Secretary of State's office.

Under the motor voter law approved by Congress, agencies that provide public assistance must also have forms available for voter registration. These agencies include welfare offices, employment offices, and offices that provide programs for individuals with disabilities.

Miller, who has conducted numerous voter registration drives around the county and established permanent registration outreach sites during his tenure as county clerk, said he has no problems with making registration easier.

"I don't see any reason to make the registration process hard as long as we can assure ourselves we are not having fraud in the elections. Iowa has had a great experience with this."

The federal motor voter law prohibits a person from being denied the right to vote as long as they are registered, even though they have moved to another precinct. Under Missouri law, if someone is not properly registered at the address they reside at, they can be kept from voting.

"I have always resented having to turn people away from the polls just because they have moved," said Miller, who anticipates state statutes will eventually be changed to comply with the new federal law before it takes effect in 1995.

With more agencies involved in the registration process, Miller and other Missouri election officials want to assure that all forms are turned in so people become officially registered.

"Our concern is that we don't have people supposedly registered who go to vote and then we have not gotten the information," said Miller.

Forms will be ready by 1995 for the new locations where people can register. By then, the state is required to have a form ready for license offices so a change in address on a driver's license can also become a change of address for voter registration.

Under Missouri's motor registration law, a registration card has to be completed and sent to the clerk's office. The clerk is required to send a receipt within seven days advising the person that they have been registered.

To help eliminate the possibility of fraud in the mail registration procedure, clerks can require these voters to go to a regular polling place or specially designated place the first time they vote.

People who register by mail would not be able to vote an absentee ballot the first time they vote.

As a concession to the expanded registration opportunities, the deadline for people to register has been moved back to four weeks prior to an election rather than three weeks. "If you get down to the last three weeks and then have 2,000 people register the last two days like we had last fall, it is touch and go getting everything on the books," said Miller.

Another new state law waives the requirement that persons who request absentee ballots because of illness or physical disability must have the absentee notarized.

Legislation approved in the last session also eliminated the sunset clause from a law allowing voting by mail.

Voting by mail is allowed in Missouri only in single-issue elections. It cannot be used in elections with candidates.