REGISTERING TO VOTE WILL BECOME EASIER; FILING FOR OFFICE SHORTER

Registering to vote will become easier, but the time people have to file for office will be reduced under legislation passed by the 1993 session of the Missouri General Assembly.

And, a bill passed by Congress this year, and signed Thursday by President Clinton, will open the voter registration process even more.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller, the chief election authority for the county, said the new laws will make it easier for people to register but they will still have to take the time to fill out the appropriate forms.

Secretary of State Judith Moriarty was successful in winning approval of one of her priority bills, known as post-card registration, which allows anyone to register by mail rather than going to one of the regular voter registration offices in a county.

The new federal legislation, known as the "motor voter bill," will enable people to register at license fee offices when they renew driver's licenses, and also requires registration forms to be available at other government offices such as welfare and employment offices.

Miller said he has not gotten all the details of the new laws, but the intent is simply to make it easier to register to vote.

"I only know what its intent is; how it is handled at the local level I don't know yet," said Miller. "We also don't know how much of a financial burden this will put on counties and election authorities to comply."

Miller and several of his staff members will be attending a training session in Jefferson City next month hosted by the secretary of state's office.

Under another law, sponsored by Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, the time for candidates to file has been reduced to about 30 days. Filing for candidates seeking county, state and federal offices in Missouri will begin the last Tuesday in February in even-numbered years and close the last Tuesday in March. Under current law filing begins the second Tuesday in January and runs until the last Tuesday of March.

Originally, Staples had tried to move the August primary back to September as a way of shortening the election process, but it was removed from the bill.

"A 30-day filing period is all we need," said Staples. "For anyone who is a serious candidate, 30 days is long enough."

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, was one of only two members of the Senate who opposed the bill. Kinder said incumbents have too many advantages already and shortening the filing period will only benefit incumbents.

Said Kinder: "The end result of that is it gives potential challengers less time to make a decision on whether to run. It's nothing but an incumbent protection device. I feel we should be trying to level the playing field."

Until the late 1970s, filing opened on the day after election day, which enabled candidates to file nearly two years in advance.

During his 15 years as county clerk, Miller has attempted to make it easier to register through a Registration Outreach program, where registration has been conducted at shopping centers, schools, factories, and fairs. He has also established permanent registration outreach sites at public libraries and other places in Cape County.

Miller said his main concern with the expanded process is that more people will be involved in registration, and that increases the likelihood that the proper paperwork may not be turned in.

"I can see the ball being dropped on some people, who think they are registered and find out on election day they are not," said Miller.

On the post-card registration, Miller said citizens can write seeking a registration form; however, it must be returned with a notarized signature to complete the process.

Miller said he will do anything possible to get more people registered, but simply because someone is registered does not mean they will vote on election day.

"I don't have any problem with these things as long as we can handle it and it is done properly," said Miller. "It will take a lot of coordination."

Legislation passed this year will also make permanent a system of voting by mail, and expand the opportunities for using it, and will reduce from three weeks to two weeks the deadline for registering before an election.

Miller said that shortened deadline could cause problems and force many counties to hire additional help to get new registered voters on the books by election day.

Although making it easier to register may cut down on the last-minute rush, Miller said that in 1992 there were 2,500 new voters registered in the final three days before the deadline. Having one less week to process those names would put serious pressure on the clerk and his staff, Miller said.

The April election date is also changed in new legislation from the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April to the first Tuesday in April.

Another change will allow youths age 17 to register to vote for elections that will be held after they reach the age of 18.