Candidates debate reforming Mo. elections
The debate was held at Stephens College.
Published Sept. 28, 2004
Discussion about election reform dominated the debate between candidates for Missouri secretary of state Sunday night.
Democrat Robin Carnahan, Republican Catherine Hanaway and Libertarian Christopher Davis attended the debate held at Stephens College. Constitution Party candidate Donna Ivanovich was unable to attend because of family illness, said debate moderator and Associated Press reporter Scott Charton.
The Columbia Daily Tribune and the Columbia-Boone County League of Women Voters sponsored the debate.
The duties of the secretary of state include overseeing elections, securities and business services, public records and libraries. Since the secretary of state has discretion over the $62 million appropriated to Missouri under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, candidates emphasized their plans for use of the funds.
All three candidates supported no-excuse early voting, which allows for early voting and absentee ballots without requiring voters to provide a reason why they can't physically go to the polls.
While the three candidates agreed on instituting early voting in Missouri, Carnahan ' the daughter of former Gov. Mel Carnahan and former Sen. Jean Carnahan ' criticized Hanaway, who is speaker of the House, for not instituting early voting while she was in the General Assembly.
"Everyone says they're for it," she said. "Matt Blunt says he's for it. Catherine says she's for it. They were in charge. We still don't have it."
Hanaway did not respond to the accusation.
Thirty states allow no-excuse early voting, and 10 states allow people to cast absentee ballots with excuses.
All three candidates agreed centralizing the voter-registration database and promoting voter education were top priorities, and they would work to phase out the punch-card voting system. In addition, Hanaway said she would work to appropriate the full $79 million that was allotted to Missouri under the Vote Act.
Carnahan said she would support using open-source code for electronic voting machines and providing a paper printout.
Davis advocated a ballot initiative by Brad Ketcher, the chief of staff of former Gov. Mel Carnahan, to reform Missouri's Electoral College to more accurately reflect the popular vote.
Charton said the level of audience interest and the meticulous planning of the League of Women Voters impressed him.
"Down-ballot races ' races below governor ' don't always get attention," he said. "This did."
Windsor Auditorium was at about half capacity, and the audience was not shy about their political support. Most audience members wore their candidate's sticker, and Charton had to reprimand them when Carnahan raised the issue of miscounted ballots in the 2000 election in Florida.
Audience members, panelists and candidates said they were happy with the way the debate went. Although there was little disagreement between the two major-party candidates on the issues, Carnahan and Hanaway both said they felt they distinguished themselves.