Senate panel hears early-voting opinions

Missourians wouldn't have to squeeze voting around work and family obligations under a legislative proposal being considered by a state Senate interim committee that would allow early voting in elections.

The idea of an early voting system was a major topic of election-reform discussion at a state Senate committee hearing in Cape Girardeau Thursday. The hearing, held at the Show Me Center, was the second of four scheduled around the state.

Rodney Miller, Cape Girardeau County clerk, said he and local election officials around the state favor early voting. The only concern, he said, is the cost.

Miller, the only county clerk to testify at the nearly two-hour hearing, said early voting could cost his office an added $6,000 per election to cover extra staffing if the state didn't pick up the tab.

Miller said he favors some election reforms but doesn't believe the system is broken.

Some Missourians, he said, want voting to be as easy as ordering fast food. "Voters would like to come by the window at McDonald's and vote that quick," said Miller.

Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt pushed unsuccessfully for passage of an election reform bill in the last legislative session.

Blunt is again pushing for legislation, which, among other things, would have the state pay the added cost for early voting in the August and November elections.

Chuck Pryor, Blunt's legislative director, told the committee it could cost the state $800,000 each election to cover the costs of early voting.

Eleven days

Under the plan, 11 days would be set aside for voting in advance of an election, with early voting closing on the Wednesday before Election Day. Voting could occur at up to five locations in a county, including the county clerk's office.

But Pryor, one of four people who testified at the hearing, suggested most rural counties likely would allow early voting in only two satellite locations in addition to the main election office.

Eileen Steinberg of Cape Girardeau, first vice president of the League of Women Voters of Missouri, voiced support for early voting. She said on-line voter registration lists could help election workers determine eligibility of those who show up for early voting.

Cape Girardeau businessman Rodger Brown, who routinely votes in elections, opposes early voting. He didn't attend the hearing. Reached at his office, Brown said polls are open long enough to accommodate voters.

"If you want to vote, you'll vote. You'll find a way to do it," he said.

Early voting, he said, won't get more people to the polls and will only add to election costs.

'Crunched for time'

State Sen. Steve Stoll, D-Festus, favors early voting. "There are so many situations where people are crunched for time," he said during the hearing. Early voting would make it easier for people to cast ballots, Stoll said.

Early voting is allowed in a number of states, including Kansas. "A good friend of mine who moved to Kansas just loves early voting," he said.

Stoll was one of three members of the Senate Interim Committee to Reform Elections and Campaign Finance who attended the hearing. The others were Sen. Anita Yeckel, R-St. Louis, who chairs the committee, and Sen. Bill Foster, R-Poplar Bluff.

The hearing drew less than a dozen people.

Foster said any election-reform law should include strengthening the secretary of state's ability to investigate election fraud.

Subpoena power

Blunt wants subpoena power for his office, something Foster favors.

Without it, Foster and Pryor said, election fraud will continue to go largely unpunished in Missouri. Local prosecutors don't have the time or the interest in going after election fraud, Pryor said, and federal prosecution currently is the only way to deal with election fraud in Missouri.

Yeckel and others on the Senate committee also favor provisional voting, which would allow people with questionable voter-registration status to cast ballots. Those votes would be sealed and segregated so election officials could later determine whether the voters were legally registered. If they weren't, the votes wouldn't count.

"This would help address the problem of wrongful purges, which many voters complained about in the presidential election," Yeckel said.

State Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, testified that any election-reform package should require disclosure of all donations given to a governor's inaugural committee and possibly impose a cap on such money.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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