ELECTION OFFICIALS HOPE FOR DECENT TURNOUT IN REGION; SECRETARY OF STATE PREDICTS 1.7 MILLION VOTERS AT POLLS

About half of Missouri's 3.4 million registered voters won't bother to vote in Tuesday's general election, predicts Secretary of State Bekki Cook.

Cook estimated that 1.7 million Missourians will vote on Election Day.

In 1994, the last non-presidential general election, more than 1.7 million Missourians cast votes in the U.S. Senate race, an all-time record for an off year in terms of the number of voters who went to the polls.

A turnout of about 50 percent of registered voters is forecast in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller predicts 17,000 to 23,000 of the county's nearly 45,000 registered voters will go to the polls on Election Day.

In Scott County, an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 of the county's 26,000 voters may go to the polls.

The county races were decided in the Democratic primary in August.

But a countywide tax issue to fund services for senior citizens and the 8th District congressional race could draw voters to the polls, said Scott County Clerk Rita Milam.

The 8th District race includes Democratic candidate Tony Heckemeyer, who is from Sikeston.

Cape Girardeau County has a record number of registered voters. In terms of actual numbers, even a 50 percent turnout would be good, Miller said.

"I am anticipating a good turnout," Miller said. "I think the issues on the ballot have created quite a lot of interest."

Missourians will consider seven constitutional amendments and a statewide proposition on the ballot. The statewide issues include Amendment 9, the boats-in-moats riverboat gambling issue; and Proposition A, which would prohibit cockfighting and bear wrestling.

In Cape Girardeau, voters also will the decide the fate of a tax plan designed to help Southeast Missouri State University convert a former Catholic seminary into a visual and performing arts school.

That issue involves a bond issue as well as a tax issue that would raise and extend the motel-hotel tax and extend the restaurant tax.

Statewide, there are races for U.S. senator and auditor. Voters also will elect nine members of the U.S. House, 17 members of the Missouri Senate, all 163 members of the Missouri House and 15 circuit judges.

Voters will decide whether to retain several judges of the Missouri Court of Appeals. There also are many county races.

With all the issues on the ballot, voters need to do their homework. Otherwise, it will be "awful time consuming" to read the ballot language in the voting booth, Miller said.

The polling precincts in Cape Girardeau County are the same as they were in the August election, Miller said. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

"We always encourage people to participate in the process, to vote," he said. "It is what this country is all about, the freedom, and right to express themselves."