8TH DISTRICT VOTING

Residents of Missouri's 8th District have been without representation in Congress since the death June 22 of U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson. Not until Nov. 5, at Missouri's general election, will voters get the opportunity to choose someone to fill Emerson's unexpired term through the end of the year. That means 8th District residents will be without a U.S. representative for 4 1/2 months.

Surely the framers of the Constitution didn't intend for there to be such a long delay in choosing a successor in the unfortunate loss of a congressman. And there shouldn't be such a long delay.

Not only will 8th District voters not have a representative until after the Nov. 5 election, but the vote will confuse some people. That is because two elections for the 8th District seat will be on the ballot: one to choose an interim representative to serve until the end of the year, and the other to elect someone for the full, two-year term that begins after Jan. 1.

The Constitution requires that when a vacancy occurs in the House the state represented by the member of Congress must hold an election to choose a successor. In Missouri, the calling of that election is up to the governor.

On Tuesday of last week, Gov. Mel Carnahn finally set the special election for Nov. 5. By then, of course, less than two months will be left in Emerson's unexpired term. Gov. Carnahan's director of communications said in announcing the calling of the election that the governor felt it was important for Southeast Missouri to be represented in Congress before the start of the new session in January. But if he feels that way, why didn't he set the election for much earlier than Nov. 5?

The governor's communications director also said that having the special election coincide with the scheduled, general election will be more convenient and cost effective. He said a number of county clerks had asked that the elections be held simultaneously.

Granted, holding the special election simultaneously with the general election will save the cost of a special election in each of the 8th District's 26 counties, but is the cost savings so much that 8th District residents should be deprived their right to representation for four and one-half months?

The death of Bill Emerson illustrates a need for Missouri to revise the law so that the calling of a special election is in a more timely fashion. Leaving the decision of when to hold that election up to the governor isn't in the best interest of citizens who go unrepresented in the U.S. House for 4 1/2 months.