REGISTERING TO VOTE IS JUST FIRST RESPONSIBILITY

New laws enacted this year at the state and federal levels will make it easier for people to register to vote. These changes should bring many more new voters on board. But simply registering is only the first responsibility of new voters. These decision makers should take their task seriously and stay informed on election issues. Only then can they proceed past the flash and fluff that plague too many elections to make educated choices.

A new state law will allow registration by mail and the new federal motor-voter law will enable people to register or make changes in their voting address when they renew driver's licenses. Also, under the federal law agencies that provide public assistance must provide voter-registration forms. The agencies include welfare and employment offices and offices that provide programs for people with disabilities.

The federal law also prohibits a person from being denied the right to vote when they are registered and have moved to another precinct. We agree with Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller, who said the state law that denies a person that right simply because they have moved to another precinct is unfair.

Another new state law waives the requirement that people who request absentee ballots because of illness or physical disability must have the ballot notarized. An earlier-passed law eliminated the sunset clause on a law that allows voting by mail only in single-issue elections in which there are no candidates.

Miller anticipates state statutes will be changed to comply with the new federal law before it becomes effective in 1995. In so doing, the Missouri General Assembly must be certain that it includes safeguards against voter fraud, just as it did in constructing the registration-by-mail law. It permits clerks to require that voters who register by mail and are voting for the first time go to a designated polling place and prohibits them from voting absentee the first time they vote.

The laws should add significantly to the registration rolls, and hopefully will get more people involved in the election process. But simply because there are more registered voters doesn't mean that more people will go to the polls at elections. A testament to that are pitifully low voter turnouts across the country, even in presidential elections.

The new laws illustrate that the government is trying to get more people involved in the election process. Voting is an individual responsibility that should be performed by those who have taken on the obligation of studying the issues and candidates. Only then can they make informed decisions in the voting booth.