Voters, the cards are in the mail

JACKSON, Mo.

New voter ID cards -- about 44,000 of them -- will be mailed out to Cape Girardeau County voters beginning today.

The Cape Girardeau county clerk's office has been busy printing out the yellow cards this week and stacking them for mailing.

It's a time-consuming task but one required by state law.

State law requires ID cards be provided to voters every two years. Rodney Miller, Cape Girardeau County clerk, said voters are required by law to show their ID cards to election judges at the polling places before voting.

But faithful voter Nancy Jernigan of Cape Girardeau said election judges in her precinct know her and don't ask for her ID card.

"I don't carry it with me," said Jernigan, who was surprised to learn that voters are supposed to carry the cards when they go to the polls.

Answering to mom

Rodger Brown of Cape Girardeau keeps his ID card in his wallet. He said election judges at his polling place usually ask him to show his identification.

"Most often it is my mother who is asking," said Brown, noting that his mother is an election judge.

Miller said election judges legally are supposed to ask voters for identification even when they know them. But he said that doesn't always happen.

"It is important that voters replace their old cards with the new ones," Miller said. The county has a new water district, there have been changes in the boundaries of the Cape Girardeau city wards and state representative districts and a polling place has shifted.

Miller said the ID cards identify the districts and the voter's polling place.

The cards help ensure that the voters are properly registered and they receive the correct ballot at an election, he said.

Citizens' pains

But Dr. Russell Renka, a registered voter and political science professor at Southeast Missouri State University, said most voters aren't concerned about updating their addresses.

"It is a pain in the neck for the citizen to do," he said. "I don't go out of my way to make phone calls to public officials when I don't have to."

Under federal law, registered voters can vote on election days even if they haven't notified their local election authority of their new addresses.

As many as 50 registration changes are made at the polls in a typical April election in Cape Girardeau County, Miller said. In a presidential election, registration changes are made at the polls for as many as 1,000 voters.

Cape Girardeau County has 48,918 registered voters on its rolls, but approximately 4,000 are listed as inactive because the clerk's office has no updated addresses for them.

Even so, the federal motor voter law requires they remain on the voter rolls for four years before they can be dropped, Miller said.

On top of those already listed as inactive, Miller's office routinely gets back 5,000 to 6,000 of the mailed-out ID cards because of wrong addresses.

The post office sometimes has forwarding addresses, which helps Miller's staff locate voters who have moved.

"We have a lot of college students and apartment changes," Miller said. "It's pretty mobile around here."

Changing addresses

Registered voters who have moved can change their addresses in person or by mail. Miller said voters can write in their correct addresses on the back of their ID cards and mail them to the county clerk's office.

A new voter ID card then would be mailed to the proper address, Miller said.

Registered voters who don't receive voter ID cards by the end of this month should contact the county clerk's office.

Those who want to vote in the April 2 municipal elections must register by March 6.

They can do so at the clerk's offices in the Cape Girardeau County Administration Building in Jackson, the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex in Cape Girardeau or at public libraries and license bureaus in the two cities.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123