PARTY RECORDS AT POLLS: TOO MANY QUESTIONS

The political-party ballot voters request at primary elections in Missouri could be tracked under legislation that has cleared the state Senate. This objectionable feature was in a bill sponsored by state Sen. Steve Stoll, D-Festus. It is part of a larger measure covering many election topics, such as qualifications for petition gatherers.

The bill would allow the political parties to post poll watchers at each of the more than 5,000 voting precincts in Missouri and authorize those people to write down the names of voters who request their parties' ballots. Stoll says the Democratic and Republican parties support the practice because they need the basic data to select delegates to the parties' national conventions in 2000.

Most states require voters to declare a party affiliation when they register. Missouri is among a handful with no such requirement, although state law does allow party poll-watchers to observe voting from afar.

Alert reporters asked some good questions about the bill:

Are details about the party ballot a person pulls a public record under Missouri's Sunshine Law? At least one lawmaker suggested they would clearly be a public record.

Could voters be intimidated about how to vote, especially if they're partisan in an area with political control ceded to the opposing party?

What if the person writing down the information got it wrong? How could it be corrected?

All these are good questions. No lawmaker had good answers. It would appear that Sen. Stoll's bill should be slowed down until straight answers are forthcoming. At stake is a political practice known as branding voters according to their political party. If Missourians are to go down this road, it should be only after thorough debate that has clearly been lacking to this point.