By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
In the face of what is expected to be a record turnout, county clerks and election officials are hoping voters will be patient when they go to the polls today.
Those turnouts are expected to translate to long lines, so voters should be prepared, the officials said.
“We’ve got every piece of election equipment we can get, and we’ve hired double the amount of poll workers, but we still think there will be long lines,” said Bonnie Earl, Jasper County clerk.
Turnouts in the range of 75 percent are being predicted — a forecast that election officials say is borne out by the numbers of voters casting absentee ballots or voting early in the states that allow it.
Earl cited another example: an absentee ballot received Monday from a Jasper County resident living in Singapore. Absentee ballots come with postage-paid envelopes that apparently could not be used in Singapore.
“It cost $33.75 for the voter to return it to us,” Earl said. “To me, that shows how important this election is to so many people.”
Earl said absentee ballots could top 8,000 in Jasper County.
“The record before was 3,688, and the turnout was 59 percent,” she said.
So many voters were casting absentee ballots Monday at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho that a sheriff’s deputy had to be called in for crowd control, said Kay Baum, county clerk.
“It’s like Election Day today; I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.
She said more than 3,400 absentee ballots had been cast, topping the previous record of 2,250 in 2004.
In Kansas and Oklahoma, residents have taken advantage of early voting programs, election officials said.
As of Monday morning, 280 people had voted early in Cherokee County, Kan. In addition, said Sandra Soper, county clerk, 1,266 absentee ballots had been returned.
Connie Payton, with the Ottawa County (Okla.) Election Board, said the number of votes cast early and by absentee ballot “is much larger than we’ve ever had before.”
She said she expects voting to be “very busy and very chaotic.”
“We’ve told our workers not to rush, because we don’t want any errors,” she said. “People are going to need to be patient, and they need to remember that if polls close while they’re in line, they still get to vote.”
Election officials also are suggesting that voters, if possible, try to show up at the polls in midmorning and midafternoon, when the lines may be shorter.
Jasper County sheriff’s deputies, and police officers in Joplin and Carthage will be dropping by voting precincts periodically today, Earl said.
State and federal officials, too, will be watching.
A spokesman for Robin Carnahan, Missouri secretary of state, said problems at the polls may be reported to that office at (800) NOW-VOTE.
The U.S. attorney’s office also will respond to reports of alleged election fraud or voting-rights abuses, and may be reached at (800) 733-6558.
The Globe also will track reports of voting problems, and may be reached at 623-3480.
One Democratic voter said Monday that she had called the Missouri attorney general’s office after receiving a recorded call that said, because of the big turnouts, Republicans would vote today and Democrats on Wednesday.
“Of course, I knew better, so I just called the attorney general’s office,” said Darlene Sheridan, of Sheldon.
Carnahan’s office workers said they had received other reports of misleading “robo-calls” and had forwarded the complaints to the U.S. attorney’s office for investigation.
Republicans and Democrats will provide rides to the polls. Democrats may be reached via a statewide, toll-free number, (887) MO-CHANGE. Republicans may be reached at 782-7710 in Joplin and 451-6467 in Newton County, according to Nick Myers, chairman of the Newton County Republican Central Committee.
John Putnam, Jasper County GOP chairman, declined to supply the information, citing the Globe’s endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential race.
“We’re really disappointed in your endorsement, so we’re just not facilitating communication with the Globe,” Putnam said.
JHS election results
Joplin High School students recently engaged in their own mock election for the presidential and Missouri gubernatorial races. The results released Monday were as follows:
For president: McCain-Palin (R), 564; Obama-Biden (D), 559; Barr-Root (L), 11; Baldwin-Castle (C), 8; and Nader-Gonzales (I), 59.
For governor: Kenny Hulshof (R), 613; Jay Nixon (D), 487; Andrew Finkenstadt (L), 80; and Gregory Thompson (C), 34.
