Voters face July 10 registration deadline to cast primary votes

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County residents have until 5 p.m. July 10 to register to vote in the Aug. 6 primary election.

The county already has 50,000 registered voters, a record number, said County Clerk Rodney Miller.

Miller said he doesn't expect a rush of registrations between now and the July 10 deadline.

"Typically, there is only a big rush right before a presidential election," he said.

Residents 18 years of age and older can register at the county clerk's offices in the Administrative Building at 1 Barton Square in Jackson and in the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex at 44 N. Lorimier in Cape Girardeau. The clerk's offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson will remain open until 6 p.m. on July 8 and July 9 as an added convenience for those wanting to register, he said.

Residents also may register at a number of other sites including license bureaus, public libraries and the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

Persons who have moved should report their new addresses to the clerk's office to be properly registered.

Those who don't update their addresses still can vote in the election, but may be required to go to a different precinct on Election Day, he said.

A new state law revising Missouri's elections laws requires voters to show some form of identification at the polls and allows people whose eligibility is questioned to cast provisional ballots. Miller, the county's chief elections officer, sees little impact from the voter identification requirement. He said voters already are required to show their voter identification cards or other identification at the polls unless at least two election judges know them.

The provisional ballots provision is a different matter. It will slow down the tallying of votes, Miller predicted. He expects a few Cape Girardeau County residents will run into eligibility problems, requiring election judges to let them cast provisional ballots that will have to be counted separately from the regular ballots.

Miller said the new law, which takes effect Aug. 28, also allows election officials to use members of third parties and independents as election judges. That will make it easier to obtain election judges, he said.

But the majority of election judges, by law, must still be from the Republican and Democratic parties, Miller said.