Ballot changes coming across Missouri

The process that seemed to baffle Florida voters in 2000 is as much a part of life for Cape Girardeau County residents as the SEMO District Fair.

It's punch-card voting, the process of sliding a ballot into a clearly marked slot, pricking it as many times as necessary with a small tool and then slipping it into a big box to be taken to County Clerk Rodney Miller's Jackson headquarters to be counted.

In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, we learned a whole new vocabulary, thanks to voters who seemed much less familiar with the process. There were "dimpled chads" where they didn't sufficiently punch the ballot. There were "hanging chads" where they punched the ballot through -- but apparently not hard enough -- and then didn't check it before turning it in.

But while Cape Girardeau County's system works well for us -- and has for 22 years, save a rare little computer glitch back in August that forced a quick recount in the 157th District Republican primary -- it's got to go.

A new federal law will eliminate punch-card voting and encourage clerks to have new voting systems in place by 2004.

Miller thinks 2008 may be more realistic, considering the estimated $600,000 to $1 million price tag on the touch-screen systems Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt is advocating.

While that gets sorted out, at least Missouri voters can have confidence in the system currently in place.

Tuesday's elections couldn't have been executed more smoothly in an imperfect world thanks to checks and rechecks of equipment and the inspired idea of provisional balloting.

Under Missouri's new election law, those who showed up at polling places and couldn't be identified as registered voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots on statewide races. They were sealed and set aside to be counted separately if they could be proven valid later.

In all, 3,505 voters cast provisional ballots statewide on Tuesday. Four of those were from Cape Girardeau. And none of the statewide races were so close that 3,505 ballots would have changed the outcome anyway.

Missouri's elections officials deserve our applause for conducting such a fair and efficient election on Tuesday. No doubt the transition to new equipment, needed or not, will likewise proceed in a smooth fashion.