Missouri ripe for voting snags

[Forkboy]

A recent study by electionline.org, a nonpartisan research foundation, placed Missouri on a list of roughly a dozen states that have a high probability of encountering significant problems on Nov. 4.

Like the other states, Missouri has several possibly troublesome factors, including new voter identification laws, a heated race for a statewide office, a ballot packed with candidates and initiatives, and a highly charged, partisan atmosphere. Missouri has the added complication of being a swing state in the presidential race, with the candidates virtually tied.

Those factors, coupled with an unprecedented number of new voters and an expected record turnout, has led some political analysts to predict that Missouri could be at the center of "a perfect storm" that could throw the 2008 presidential election into disarray.

"Expecting a voting problem here is almost a no-brainer," said Dave Robertson, a political science professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. "We have a very good chance of extending the time it takes to count the vote" past midnight or later.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/10/27/missouri_ripe_for_voting_snags/

[Terran]

1. I'm not so sure this is accurate

I agree that the likely huge turnout in St. Louis (for Obama) is probably going to cause a problem. It did in 2004 when there were so many people, some voting places decided on their own to stay open later, and this raised cries of "fraud" from republicans.

BUT, we do NOT have a voter ID law here, contrary to the article. The legislature passed one but the state Supreme Court declared it invalid. That was the whole issue with the DUer in Independence who tried to vote in the primary, and a worker at the his polling place ILLEGALLY demanded picture ID.

Also, we don't have a particular "heated" race for Governor, if that's what the article is referring to. Jay Nixon (D) is polling double digits consistently ahead of Hulshof (r), and I think everybody is pretty much assuming the Dem will win; the other statewide races are not getting a whole lot of attention that I can see, except maybe the race for Attorney General.

I've also heard just the opposite of this, that Missouri is considered fairly well prepared overall because of the quality of the Secretary of State's voter database. And thank god we have a highly competent Democrat, Robin Carnahan, as Sec State.

So while I'm a little concerned about St. Louis, I don't think we're heading for huge statewide problems.

[Forkboy]

2. Cool. Thanks for the added info and corrections.

:thumbsup: