COOK URGES PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY IN MISSOURI

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook believes a majority of state lawmakers support legislation to establish a presidential primary.

The Senate passed a bill to create a primary by a 24-to-6 vote, but the House has yet to take up the measure.

With the session to end Friday, Cook knows time is running out.

Cook said she hopes the House will take up the bill and pass it. "It has bipartisan support," Cook said during a visit to Cape Girardeau Tuesday.

Cook spoke to students at Cape Girardeau Central and Notre Dame high schools, encouraging them to register to vote.

The House Budget Committee approved the Senate bill Tuesday. State Rep. Mary Kasten serves on the Budget Committee. She said the bill had the support of both Republicans and Democrats on the committee.

"I don't recall anybody against it,' said Kasten, who supports the bill.

Kasten said the bill is 27th out of 50 Senate bills that are up for a House vote.

"I am hoping we get down to that," she said from her office in Jefferson City.

"I think all of us realize that maybe Missouri would get a little more attention if we have a primary here," said Kasten.

Under the bill, Missouri would hold its presidential primary on the same day as the municipal and school boards elections, which are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April.

The presidential primary would be held for the first time in April 2000.

Both Kasten and Cook said the presidential primary could boost voter turnout, which is typically low in April elections.

Forty-one states have presidential primaries. Missouri is one of a minority of states that have a caucus system. Under the current caucus system, only about 2 percent of Missouri voters participate, Cook said.

She said a primary would increase voter participation and make the process more democratic.

"The people have clearly expressed a strong desire to have a primary in Missouri," Cook said.

She based that assessment on a series of town-hall meetings she held around the state last summer. Some 70 percent of participants at those meetings supported a presidential primary, she said.

Missourians said they wanted to cast their votes in secret rather than have to attend a party caucus and publicly vote for their candidate, Cook said.

Most participants at the town-hall meetings favored holding the primary on the same day as municipal and school board elections. Cook said that would limit the cost to the state for holding a presidential primary.

Kasten said a fiscal note attached to the bill shows the cost could range between zero and $1.2 million. But Kasten said fiscal notes for bills this session have been so broad that it is difficult to determine the actual cost of a particular measure. She agreed with Cook that the added cost should be minimal.

Under the bill, Missouri's presidential primary would be the same day as Kansas' primary. Cook said that could have appeal to potential presidential candidates seeking votes in the Midwest.

Individual delegates to national party conventions would still be chosen at a series of caucuses and conventions, but delegates would be assigned in proportion to the votes that presidential candidates received in the primary. Candidates would have to poll at least 15 percent of the vote to qualify for delegates.

Cook said that as secretary of state she wants Missouri to structure its election laws to reflect the desires of the state's voters.

She said moving to a presidential primary conforms with that philosophy.