Haven’t had time to check into this (I welcome folks in Missouri to please do so themselves!) as too much rolling fast and furious now. Galloglas at DU reports that the Missouri Secretary of State’s office may be encouraging use of paper ballots on Election Day. He reports that they may be available for “optional” use and will NOT be counted as Provisional Ballots.
That’s good news. But, as with California’s SoS announcement we reported last week, it sounds like the SoS office in the “Show Me” state (…pausing to ponder the irony…) could use a bit of a nudge to do the right thing and develop specific plans and procedures for use of optional and/or Emergency Paper Ballots in every precint. See Galloglas’ report. Sounds like they are well aware of our efforts here at The BRAD BLOG, so be polite and give them our best wishes!
Contact info for Missouri SoS/Election Division here.
We recently sent a letter, along with more than 50 other Election Integrity organizations and notable individuals, calling on SoSs, Governors, and State Election Officials to develop immediate plans and procedures for the use of Emergency Paper Ballots this November 7th.
You can contact your own state officials via email here. We also encourage you to call them on the phone. They’d love to hear from you!
Galloglas was correct.
This is from Leslye Winslow, Asst. Dir of Elections, at the Missouri SoS office.
While the Secretary of State’s “emergency rules” related to electronic voting require each election authorty to have a plan in case of machine failure, the SOS doesn’t have the authority to require a statewide paper ballot backup plan.
However, according to Winslow, a part of Senate Bill #1014 (the Photo Voter ID bill, just struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court, voting 6-1) that still stands requires that in each general election the election authority must provide at least 1 and 1/3 times the number of ballots that were cast in a similar election.
Winslow specified that “ballot” means “paper ballot,” and said that election authorities must comply with this rule as long as they are offering a paper ballot option.
According to Winslow, this means that even if the election authority puts out several DREs for each polling place, as long as they are also offering the optical scan option (or presumably any other form of paper system) they must make that amount of paper ballots available for use.
She said that NO counties in Missouri will have DREs as a sole voting method this November; all of them will have some sort of paper system. Thus, all counties in Missouri will have to comply with this rule in the upcoming election.
Winslow didn’t refer to this as an “emergency backup plan” (the rule is probably simply intended to ensure that enough ballots are available for the expected turnout in places where paper is the primary means of voting).
A followup phone call to Ken Murdock did not reveal whether this “paper option” would be widely publicized by the Sos Office, as would have been required by HR 6200 (and, we presume, by HR 6187) recently introduced in Congress.
Since there is still plenty of time to notify the SoS just how much Missourians love having that option, perhaps we could all try to jiggle their memories.
A very cheap phone call can be made to the SoS office at (800) NOW-VOTE (669-8683), or (573) 751-2301.
I think it would also be a good idea to let the SoS office know how concerned we are that this information be made VERY public ASAP!
A press release, by the office of the SoS, to all the media outlets in Missouri would do the trick, I think. TV, news, radio, etc.
If that doesn’t seem likely, then offer to do the job for them.
That suggestion will probably give them more reason to consider what a good idea it is.
So, Missourians, Brad has done his work. It’s now time to grab that phone, call the SoS and say “SHOW ME those paper ballots!”
Thanks for that update, Fintan16. And if you can’t call, you can use the Progressive Democrats of America’s handy-dandy email option: http://pdamerica.org/petition/p...lot-emails.php