Mo. Legislature may eliminate straight-ticket voting option

In 2004, more than one-third of Cape Girardeau voters cast a straight-party ballot, which by a single stroke registered their support for all candidates in one party.

In the future, those voters may have to record an individual vote for each candidate. The Missouri Legislature is considering eliminating straight-party voting as party of a controversial elections bill that also requires voters to have government-issued photo identification.

Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, was committee sponsor of the bill when the straight-party voting ban first surfaced. "Instead of blindly marking a box for everyone with one party, it will require one to think about each choice," he said. "You can still vote for everyone within one party."

Missouri is one of only 11 states that still allow straight-party voting, Cooper said. The ban on straight-ticket voting wasn't included in the Senate version of the bill, which is in a conference committee working on a compromise version.

Lawmakers conclude their work on Friday.

In Cape Girardeau, Scott, Perry and Bollinger counties, straight-party ballots lean heavily Republican. The GOP piled up a 3,035-vote margin among straight-party voters in Cape Girardeau County in the 2004 election. The smallest Republican edge was 195 votes in Scott County, where Democrats hold every county office.

County clerks from the area question whether the change is necessary. Straight-party voting has a long tradition, dating to the days when political parties printed and distributed their own ballot sheets for voters to deposit in the box.

The practice became part of the combined ballot and features the party's official symbol at the beginning of the ballot.

"I am not for it," said Bollinger County Clerk Diane Holzum, a Republican. "I think they ought to leave it the way it is. I can't see any benefit."

Taking away the straight-party option will bother a lot of people, said Scott County Clerk Rita Milam. "There are still some people who vote for a certain party and that is all," she said. "Do I think it would hurt turnout or make voters mad? Yes, it would."

A study by researchers from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Texas A&M Univeristy reported that one of the big effects of straight-party voting is to record votes in some of the lower-profile races on the ballot. The number of races where a voter fails to record a vote is higher in states where there is no straight-party voting, they concluded.

The researchers also concluded that straight-party voting seems to help Democrats more than Republicans. In locations without straight-party ballots, analysis showed, there were fewer unrecorded votes in areas that tended to vote for the GOP.

The study, called "Straight Party Ballot Options and Legislative Elections," was presented in 2002 at a conference in Wisconsin.

The change isn't being proposed for any partisan gain, Cooper said. "I didn't do it for political reasons. I did it because it is the right thing to do."

Taking away the straight-party ballot will result in voters making more thoughtful choices. "This will require individuals to take greater care in who they are voting for," Cooper said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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