St. Louis city officials are making plans that would allow early voting running from Oct. 19-27 in the upcoming Presidential election. Secretary of State Matt Blunt, himself a candidate for governor, isn't sure if St. Louis has the legal right to hold early voting. And thus, the issue is headed to the courts.
The Missouri General Assembly approved legislation this year that made planning for early elections an option available throughout the state. But the measure went unfunded and that, according to Blunt, means that local officials may lack the power to order early voting. St. Louis interprets the law differently and is providing local funding to stage the weeklong early vote.
Early voting concerns the heck out of me. St. Louis has a dismal reputation for election shenanigans and opening the window for voting does little, in my opinion, to change that reputation.
St. Louis ran into massive problems during the 2000 election. It got so bad that voting there is now under federal oversight to help assure that bogus votes are not counted. It remains that way still today.
The reason St. Louis ran into those problems is because voters there came unprepared to the polls on election day. Thousands of voters went to the wrong voting precinct, had registered late or had moved without informing election officials. That lack of preparation on the part of voters is the reason the process was confusing and chaotic on election day. So because these voters don't follow the correct path, we change the rules to accommodate them? I think that is wrong.
This nation is served better by an informed electorate, a prepared electorate. If voters cannot understand these most simple rules then why should we dumb down the process to make it easier for them to cast their ballot?
I know it will never happen but I'm not opposed to some simple rules for voters that will help to bring a more informed voter to the polls on election day. I don't think the political process benefits from voters who have no idea or concept of what they're voting on - they've just been told to vote one way or the other. But that gets into a sticky area and it would never happen.
Early voting is a recognition that some people simply cannot follow rules. And it has the potential of opening a can of worms that no one wants to address.