ELECTION LAW CHANGES TAKE EFFECT SATURDAY

JACKSON - Two changes in Missouri statutes regarding voter registration will take effect Saturday. One will allow people to register by mail, and the other change extends the time by one week when registration books close before an election.

Both measures were included in comprehensive election bills approved by the General Assembly last spring and signed into law by Gov. Mel Carnahan.

Until the new law, all voter registration had to be done in person, however, Cape County Clerk Rodney Miller said now anyone who is eligible to register in Missouri may do so by mail. Miller has applications available, which can be used by individuals or groups.

Miller explained that after receiving the application, once an election authority is satisfied the person is entitled to register, a receipt of registration must be sent within seven days. The receipt of registration acknowledges the clerk has received the application to register.

Under the law, however, a person who registers by mail cannot vote absentee by mail the first time they vote. The election authority will not deliver any voter identification card to any person who registers by mail, until that person has voted for the first time.

Miller said applications to register are available from his office in Jackson on the top floor of the county administration building, and from the voter registration office in the Common Pleas Annex in Cape Girardeau.

The new law also decreases the time citizens have to register before an election. Under present law, the books close three weeks prior to an election, but the new law will move that to four weeks before an election.

The law makes a number of other changes in the state's election statutes, many of them minor. One of the other changes shortens the period candidates may file for office at the county, state and federal levels by about a month.

The start of filing moves from the second Tuesday in January to the last Tuesday in February of even numbered years. Filing closes the last Tuesday in March.

The law also provides for the state to pay the costs of special legislative elections and has procedures for replacing candidates who withdraw before an election.