RULINGS MEAN BALLOT CHANGES; CLERKS SCURRY TO MAKE LAST-MINUTE REVISIONS

Getting ready for an election is tough enough without last-minute changes in ballot wording, area county clerks said Tuesday.

Judges shouldn't be allowed to change the wording on ballot issues within a few weeks of the election, they said.

But that is what has happened in Missouri.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Friday it was unconstitutional for a legislative committee's fiscal note to be included in the ballot wording of a constitutional amendment on term limits.

The state's high court ruled the committee didn't have the authority to prepare fiscal notes for issues placed on the ballot through initiative petitions.

On Monday, just two weeks before the Nov. 5 election, Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder nixed a fiscal note that the same judge originally had allowed to accompany Proposition A, the minimum-wage-hike issue.

The judge's new order was prompted by the Supreme Court's decision.

As a result, the estimate that a higher minimum wage would cost Missouri an estimated $100 million won't be included on the ballot.

But ballots already have been printed. The deletions mean ballots either have to be reprinted or text must be marked out or covered with stickers, clerks said.

In Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, stickers will be placed over the canceled wording on the punch-card ballot books.

Cape Girardeau County will use 353 punch-card books in this election, the most ever.

Perry County must make the corrections to 100 punch-card ballot books.

Both Scott and Bollinger counties use paper ballots counted by optical scanners.

Both counties plan to send their thousands of ballots back to the printer to have the court-banned wording marked through.

"It is ridiculous," said Diane Holzum, Bollinger County clerk. She said about 8,000 to 9,000 ballots will be returned to the printer.

"It has been a major aggravation to me," she said.

"It is very unfortunate," said Randy Taylor, Perry County clerk.

Rodney Miller, Cape Girardeau County clerk, said clerks across the state also have had to change the wording on absentee ballots.

Some people already have cast absentee ballots containing the original language.

Those votes still count, said Jim Grebing of the Missouri secretary of state's office, but in a close election, a legal challenge might be raised over the issue.

The secretary of state's office had to certify ballot items by Sept. 10.

Miller said the deadline provides time for county clerks to get the ballots printed.

Clerks are required to make available absentee ballots, beginning six weeks prior to an election.

But the recent court actions have destroyed the whole process and made it difficult for election officials to get the ballots in order, Miller said.

"It would appear that the courts don't really care about that," Miller said.

He said Missouri's county clerks believe legislation is needed to prevent last-minute court rulings over ballot wording in future elections.

Court-ordered changes ideally should be made before absentee ballots are sent out, he said.