COST IS BIG FACTOR IN MAILING ELECTION NOTICES

There are some advantages to mailing notices directly to registered voters prior to elections in Missouri. This is what a bill currently in the Legislature would do. But there is one major reason why this plan isn't good: It costs too much.

County clerks, who are the election officials in each county, already have the authority to mail sample ballots in certain elections where fewer than 500 voters are involved. That happened last year in Dutchtown, where about 50 voters were notified of an upcoming election. This was a good way to let those few voters know what was going on, and the cost for such a small mailing was relatively inexpensive.

The more traditional way of letting voters know about elections is by the publication of election notices and sample ballots in newspapers. This has been the method used all over the state for decades. For example, notices of the April 2 balloting were published in the Southeast Missourian Monday. Those notices will be published again next Monday. The notices include city and school elections throughout the county as well as a bond issues in the Oak Ridge School District and in Gordonville.

The proposed bill would let county clerks mail sample ballots in all elections. The direct-mail method would give each registered voter his or her own copy of the election notices and sample ballot. Returns from those mailings would give county clerks a good idea of voters who have moved without changing their addresses. In many cases, these voters aren't even eligible to vote anymore in local elections, because they have moved away from the county entirely.

Proponents of the bill also say the mailed notification of elections would do a better job of reaching potential voters, thereby possibly increasing participation in elections. But there's no guarantee, of course, that recipients of the mailed notices would take the time to read them. And newspapers not only publish the official notices as required by law, but they also write stories that help readers understand the issues and candidates on the ballot.

But the biggest strike against mailed election notices is the cost. Last year, Cape Girardeau County spent $13,149 to publish notices and sample ballots of three elections. There are more than 48,000 registered voters in the county. The cost of mailing notices of those three elections would have been nearly $50,000 at currently first-class postage rates, as the proposed bill would require. That's just for postage. The county also would have the cost of printing more than 48,000 sample ballots for each countywide election.

For now, newspapers still offer the best and most economical way of giving official notification of elections.