Bow tied on 2020 election: Cape County clerk details final election results, process

The Tuesday deadline to report official results of the Nov. 3 election to the Missouri Secretary of State was met with time to spare by Cape Girardeau County election officials.

The final numbers, compiled Nov. 9 by the county’s verification board, show little change from those reported election night, with no alteration in the outcome of any race or initiative.

Voter turnout of 73.31% was slightly behind the 2008 election (73.42%) but nearly 3,000 more people participated this year compared to 12 years ago because of higher 2020 registration.

County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said 31 provisional ballots were accepted post-Election Day and 90 other provisionals were rejected.

Eight total ballots from U.S. military voters and from overseas, due by Nov. 6, were accepted and made part of the final count.

Parson and Trump

Gov. Mike Parson, who succeeded to office after the 2018 resignation of Eric Greitens, performed slightly better in Cape Girardeau County than did President Donald Trump.

Parson won 34 of the county’s 36 precincts, losing only the mail-in vote and Cape Girardeau Precinct 2A, compiling 29,127 tallies.

The president won 33 precincts, losing just Cape Girardeau 2A and Cape Girardeau 6B, and the mail-in vote, with 28,907 total votes.

There were 142 true mail-in ballots received — meaning ballots that had to be returned via U.S. Postal Service — and Joe Biden won those decisively, 80% to 14%.

There were 13,990 traditional absentee ballots and Trump won them handily over Biden by a margin of 65.6% to 33.2%.

An election like no other

“At 6 a.m., we had lines (at the polls) everywhere, the longest I’ve ever seen,” said Summers, county clerk and election authority since 2007.

“If we hadn’t had the absentee and mail-in option due to COVID, we would have had 14,000 more people voting in-person and we would have had lines all day long,” she added.

Post-election interest

Summers said that immediately after an election cycle, she typically only gets a few calls from voters.

This year was quite different, she said.

“I spent literally two whole days on the phone with voters (after Election Day),” Summers said, “because interest was so high and due to what voters were hearing in other parts of the country.”

Summers said election laws are not uniform and vary from state to state.

“I would get calls asking why a ballot needed to be initialed,” Summers said, pointing out Missouri law requires initials from election judges from both parties.

“Similarly, there would be calls from people who thought there were people working the polls who were too (partisan),” said Summers, noting the county asks both major parties to supply a list of poll monitors to ensure accountability and fairness, in compliance with Missouri statutes.

Spot check

Summers said the verification board, consisting of herself and an equal number of judges from the Democratic and Republican parties, hand counted three randomly drawn precincts from Nov. 3.

“We had just one adjustment to make in the final vote after the hand count,” said Summers, who added voting equipment is tested in all precincts after the polls close to make sure it is still in working order.

Hoped-for improvements

Summers said she is going to work with state legislators to make what she sees are needed changes for upcoming elections.

“The deadline to register is just too far out from the election,” said Summers, who said the deadline of the fourth Wednesday before the election, or Oct. 7, is too early.

Also, she would like the drivers’ license bureau utilized to help inform voters they must re-register if they move from one Missouri county to another.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of people (in Missouri) who move and move frequently,” Summers said.

‘Legal’ ballots

Summers said Show Me State election officials are careful about correctly getting absentee and mail-in ballots to eligible voters.

“I’m not sure how other states do it, but in Missouri, we only mail a ballot to someone who actually requested it,” she said, adding only after signatures are verified and a legitimate street address is provided is a ballot mailed out.

“That, in my opinion, is the way to handle absentees and mail-ins,” she said.

Tapping federal help

Summers said she had requested up to $80,000 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money be held back for this year’s elections, noting her office will submit reimbursement requests to the County Commission for items such as cleaning supplies, pay for part-time employees who sanitized after each voter cast an in-person ballot and Plexiglas shields at polling places.