Missouri leaders consider early voting
Missouri is one of 14 states that does not allow early voting.
Published Nov. 13, 2008
Missouri officials are looking at allowing early voting and abolishing a required excuse for absentee voting.
Missouri is one of 14 states that requires voters to provide an excuse to vote absentee, whether the person votes absentee by mail or in person. Missouri does not have early voting, but a Gallup Poll estimates that nationally, about 28 percent of voters in the 2008 general election voted before Nov. 4. Missouri is one of 19 states that do not allow early voting.
There is bipartisan support for abolishing Missouri's required excuse for voting absentee.
Central Missouri Young Republicans spokesman Mike Zweifel said that waiving the requirement "seems very innocuous," but he also said the date votes can be cast should not overlap with the registration deadline.
Sen.-elect Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said there would be lots of support for waiving the requirement.
In the general election, Missouri's voter turnout was 69.4 percent, according to the secretary of state's office, which was higher than in 2004, but lower than Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's projections. Voter turnout among registered voters in Boone County was even higher, hitting 83.65 percent.
Carnahan in particular is pushing for early voting.
Secretary of state spokesman Ryan Hobart said early voting is a "common sense" measure that would increase voter participation.
"It helps people who have busy lives and gives them more of an opportunity to go to the polls," Hobart said.
Support for early voting has not received the same bipartisan support as waiving the absentee requirement. Early voting would allow Missouri to set up satellite voting sites throughout the state that voters could use before Election Day.
Young Democrats of Missouri President Rick Puig said he believes early voting could have tipped the balance of the presidential election, which will be decided by fewer than 5,000 votes out of almost 3 million votes cast.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that if Missouri had early voting or had something like same-day registration, Barack Obama would have won," Puig said.
Puig said some Republicans oppose early voting because of electoral consequences.
"Frankly, I think that people are opposed to early voting not because of its intrinsic value but because of political reasons," Puig said.
Some Republicans, such as Zweifel, believe early voting is not essential, considering that turnout numbers were fairly high.
"I don't think it is necessary, personally," Zweifel said. "It didn't seem like we had any problems on Election Day."
However, there are some notable Republicans in the state, including Gov. Matt Blunt, that have expressed support for early voting. Additionally, Schaefer said he would support early voting.
"I think that anytime you make voting more convenient, you are going to have greater turnout," Schaefer said.
Despite some GOP support, there are doubts about whether an early voting bill can be passed through a Republican-controlled legislature and a Democratic governor-elect, Jay Nixon.
"Legislators always see proposals to change voting laws through partisan lenses," MU professor Peverill Squire said. "My guess is that the Republicans who control the state legislature will not support early voting because they fear it will favor the Democrats, even if there is little evidence to support that proposition."
Puig also said that he would be surprised if an early voting bill passed.
"It would be difficult to describe how surprised I would be if an early voting measure got put through this legislature," Puig said.