MILLER FUMES OVER CHARGES BY OPPONENET

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller is fuming over allegations of "ballot branding" raised by his Republican challenger.

Miller, 54, who as county clerk has overseen the voting and registration process in Cape Girardeau County since 1979, said Laura Beggs is raising the issue because she has nothing positive to run on.

Beggs' charge stems from an issue that arose in the 1988 presidential preference primary in Missouri. The national and state Democratic Party developed rules for delegate selection for the election that required a "D" be placed in registration rolls by the names of voters who requested Democratic ballots.

At a Farm Bureau candidates forum in Gordonville this week, Miller confronted Beggs on the issue.

"The fact is, you either have honest accomplishments and your record stands on its own, or you don't have anything and all you can do is tear down," Miller said.

Beggs, 26, responded: "I will never support ballot branding," and added later that in the elections process, "I will strive to keep your privacy."

Beggs denied trying to "tear down" Miller. Instead, she is simply reminding the voters of Miller's previous conduct, which Beggs said shows partisanship in the administration of the clerk's office.

"I can assure you this is not false information," Beggs said at the forum. "I am trying to expose the truth so the voters will be well informed on election day."

The issue also arose last week at a forum sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County League of Women Voters. At both forums, Beggs raised the issue in her opening comments.

Miller said he is incensed by Beggs' suggestions that he has run a partisan office and that voter privacy has been jeopardized by his actions.

"There is no such thing as ballot branding," insisted Miller, who said the phrase was coined in 1988 by Missouri Republicans upset with a plan to keep records of who took Democratic ballots.

"It did not brand a ballot in any way," Miller said. "It just said that a person took a Democratic ballot."

He said state law ensures the secrecy of the ballot and there is no way to tell who cast a ballot once it is dropped in the box. In regular primary elections, voters can select a Democrat or Republican ballot.

Miller said he never received a court order to stop election procedures as Beggs has charged in what he calls a "cesspool of false advertising."

State law already allows political parties to use poll watchers that keep track of who takes what party's ballot.

But Beggs said she bases her charge on research and the accounts of residents "who remember it happening and are still repulsed by it.

While Miller said he is proud of his record as county clerk.

"My record of integrity and service to the people of Cape Girardeau County stands above this cesspool of misleading and untrue advertising," said Miller.

But Beggs said that after 16 years, it is time for a change at the county clerk's office.