Why Are Missourians Still Waiting for Election Results? Obama could still win MO

[EV_Ares]

Obama is at 49.3 & McCain is at 49.4

1,439,366 for Obama

1,444.352 for McCain

COLUMBIA, MO (2008-11-14) More than a week after Election Day the state of Missouri is still white on the electoral map. While every race has been called, not every vote has been counted. KBIA's Ken Boehlke reports on why we are still waiting.

Missouri is still waiting on a final tally in the Presidential race. And while before the election there was much concern about voting technology, Secretary of State Communication Director Laura Egerdal says equipment was not the problem. The challenge Egerdal says has been the number of provisional ballots in the state this election.

"In Missouri we have provisional ballots. Voters can cast a provisional ballot if they believe they are eligible to vote, but for some reason they're not in the poll book."

When voters shows up at their polling places and are not in the polling books or have incorrect information on their voter registration forms they must fill out a provisional ballot and send it to the Secretary of State. At that point the ballot has to be verified by local election officials to prove that a provisional ballot indeed should have been cast before it can be counted in the election results. Egerdal says more than 8,000 provisional ballots have been cast in Missouri this election, and the final day to count them is this Monday. She says better education of the public could prevent the high numbers of provisional ballots.

"We've worked with poll workers this year to try and educate and encourage voters to go to their correct polling place so they can fill out a regular ballot rather than a provisional ballot."

But even that did not help cut down the number of provisional ballots in Missouri. In 2006 more than 7,000 provisional ballots were cast and there were more than 8,000 in 2004. Speaking in an interview with KBIA before the election Secretary of State Robin Carnahan said there is one simple fix that would help alleviate the problem of provisional ballots.

"Early voting. In Missouri you have to have an excuse, you're going to be out of town, you're going to be sick or some other reason you can't show up on Election Day. Thirty other states let folks vote whenever they want in the couple weeks prior to Election Day with no excuse. I think we need to have that convenience here."

And Carnahan is not the only one pushing for early voting. At a press conference calling for election reform state representative Stephen Webber spoke on behalf of representatives Mary Still and Chris Kelly on the issue of early voting.

"We're not trying to ram any early voting down anybody's throat. We want to work with the county clerks from around the state to really develop a system that doesn't put any undo stress on them."

Egerdal says even if the country were waiting on Missouri to decide the next President, her office would still be taking the time it needs to count every vote correctly.

"We have this very careful process that is laid out in state law that allows us to make sure our counts are accurate and that every eligible vote gets processed."

Although Missouri's results will not change the Presidential race, Missourians will have to wait for every last provisional ballot to be counted and verified before they know for certain who their state selected as the next President of the United States.

Link: http://publicbroadcasting.net/kbia/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1414905§ionID=1

[Eric J in MN]

1. If they had Election Day registration at the polls, then...

...there would be almost no provisional ballots to count.

We have Election Day registration at the polls in Minnesota, and provisional ballots are rare.

[IndyOp]

2. You've nailed it exactly. In Indiana we have early voting for 4 weeks before the election

which means that there is a longer window of time during which tampering can occur. The Brennan Justice Center published principles for secure elections and one item is that we have more secure elections when the time window during which ballots are cast and counted is brief. I would like to see 3 12-hour voting days, but weeks and weeks of early voting is not good for election security. Same day voting registration is an EXCELLENT idea and I would love for Indiana to implement it.

:hi:

[mollymongold]

3. they want to be able to say they voted for the president again

[psquare]

4. After living in the state of "Misseri" for five years, this doesn't surprise me at all

I'd almost expect MO to have a regressive absentee voter law, or prohibit early voting, and with the majority of the state being Republican, there is no way that will ever change.
I could say a lot of snarky things about Missourians but I'm afraid that would count against me when I apply for a job in the Obama administration. Plus there are some really wonderful people there, who definitely were not like many of their neighbors.

[EV_Ares]

5. Well, we have elected a democratic governor, a democratic senator

among other offices and Carnahan may get the early voting in. Sometimes things change. Don't see any need for snarky comments.

[SoCalDem]

6. A better idea is to have "Voting Month"..with the grand finale occuring on the

first Tues of Nov..

and EVERY August should be voter registration month...at least as long as we have this idiotic "opt-in" system