November 08, 2008 09:38 pm
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By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
A change in legislation that would allow early voting sounds like a good idea to Cindy Caldwell, of Carl Junction.
She said she, her husband, Kevin, and their two voting-age daughters got in line when their polling place opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday, and didn’t cast their ballots until just after 7:30 a.m.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan said she will ask the Legislature next year to adopt early voting. Nationwide, an estimated one-third of voters cast ballots before Tuesday, which proponents said led to reduced lines and quicker vote counts.
Caldwell said she thinks early voting “would be a help for busy people. If they could vote early, long lines wouldn’t be so much of a problem.”
He didn’t have to wait long to vote at Peace Lutheran Church, but Howard Taiclet, also favors early voting.
“I think it would cut down on the crowding and the chaos,” said Taiclet, of Joplin.
Bonnie Earl, Jasper County clerk, said the longest lines she heard about during Election Day were at the Caldwells’ polling place — Briarbrook Golf and Country Club. She said she strongly favors early voting “because it would make it easier for the voter and, in the long run, I think it would be easier for us, too.
“We could have several polling places set up throughout the county. Early voting could be available in the community instead of people standing in line at the courthouse or the courts building. Or, those ballots could even be mailed like absentee ballots,” she said.
Earl said she suspects many people used absentee voting like early voting for the November election, since more than 7,400 absentee ballots were cast.
Absentee voting is available for six weeks prior to the election, but those voters are supposed to explain why they can’t vote on Election Day. Carnahan wants to retain absentee voting but also add a two-week early voting period, no excuse necessary, just before the election.
Under Carnahan’s plan, early voters would cast ballots at election headquarters, but also at satellite polling places in urban areas.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt also favors early voting. But earlier this year, the House Elections Committee rejected legislation for it. Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, a member of the committee who will seek the chairmanship, said Missouri doesn’t need it, as long as the absentee voting system is tweaked.
“We’ve got early voting right now with the six weeks you can vote absentee,” Deeken said. “What I would favor is the no-excuse absentee. Let’s quit making people lie. I don’t want to turn anybody down. We have enough trouble getting people to vote as it is.”
Deeken opposes the opening of satellite pre-Election Day polling places, which would require finding additional election judges, finding additional space and transporting ballots back and forth.
There were nearly 3,600 absentee ballots cast before the election in Newton County and Kay Baum, county clerk, also believes some voters used that system in place of early voting.
Baum said she believes changes are needed, but said she would prefer “no-excuse absentee voting” because hiring extra workers for satellite locations could be too costly.
State Rep. Bryan Stevenson, of Joplin, said he would favor “no-excuse absentee voting,” but fears early voting in satellite locations could create opportunities for voter fraud.
“If early voting includes or retains a requirement for a photo ID, I’d be more open to it,” he said.
State Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, said she hasn’t looked at either of the proposed revisions.
“Off the cuff, for me to endorse much of a change, I would have to be convinced, because I’m pretty happy the way it is,” she said. “But voting here isn’t like in the cities, so I’d want to hear both sides.”
Waits of up to seven hours were reported at some St. Louis precincts.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Early voting
More than 30 other states have early voting, including seven of the eight states that border Missouri.
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