Web verification tool for Cape County voting contemplated

Expecting a record turnout for the general election, now just over two months away, Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers is hoping technology can boost voter confidence Nov. 3.

Using cyberspace

Summers and clerk’s office staff are exploring a web-based tool for voters to check their ballot status, specifically an online option to verify whether a mailed-in ballot was received by the county or, conversely, if a ballot was sent out to a resident’s home.

“We’re still checking to see if we can get this (idea) implemented,” said Summers, the county clerk since 2007.

“Some other states, Iowa is one, have such (an online) system,” she added, noting it is uncertain whether the county can make the concept work for November’s vote.

Summers said the office’s web developer and information technology staff are trying to see whether the idea is feasible in the two-month window remaining before the presidential election.

“We are just trying to find ways to make things convenient for our voters,” Summers said, “but have to work within the limits of our technology.”

If an online option is not available, voters can always call the county clerk’s office at (573) 243-3547 to check on their ballot.

Summers told the Southeast Missourian last week she anticipates total voter participation for the general election to be as high as 85%.

Bullish on traditional mail

Summers said she will be talking to the postmasters in Cape Girardeau and Jackson soon.

“If we can keep ballots from going to St. Louis first, if they stay local, I trust the timeliness of the Postal Service,” she said.

Summers said the during the last presidential election in 2016, she was fully satisfied by the mail service’s performance.

The plan is for the county to hand-deliver outgoing election mail to the post office.

“They know what it looks like and ballots are priority,” Summers said.

Reminded of an incident involving an ex-Postal Service employee from Oran, Missouri, sentenced to five years probation for dumping 1,000 pieces of mail in Cape Girardeau’s Diversion Channel in 2009, Summers said she is unconcerned about the prospect of ballots getting lost.

“That was one isolated incident,” she said. “I trust the mail every day.”

Returned ballot deadlines

While the law varies from state to state, in Missouri, nearly all ballots must be in the possession of the county clerk’s office by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.

Military and overseas mail ballots can be received no later than noon Friday, Nov. 6, to be considered valid, Summers noted.