Summary of Ideas and Suggestions

IDEAS FOR IMPROVING MISSOURI ELECTIONS

Summary of Ways to Improve Missouri Elections

Frederick Douglass, August 4, 1857, stated, "The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." And Joseph Stalin has been quoted as having said, "Voters decide nothing; people who count votes decide everything."

7/20/2000 NOTATION---due to discovering the 1985 Mo. Court of Appeals, WD court ruling (686 SW2d 888) that in primary elections, all polling places are to have at least one separate booth per political party and that the ballots simply must be separate (no voter can be handed a booklet with all the parties), and each booth must be clearly marked as to which political party it is for this note must be added. PLEASE INSIST YOUR ELECTION AUTHORITY PROVIDE A SEPARATE BOOTH AND SEPARATE BALLOT AND FILE WRITTEN COMPLAINTS BOTH WITH THE MO.SECRETARY OF STATE, LOCAL PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, FBI, AND U.S. ATTORNEY IF THIS IS NOT DONE EVEN FOR VOTING ABSENTEE. You must help take our state and republic back ONE PROPER BALLOT AT A TIME.

I, who have often been critical of various Missouri officials from all political parties, offered a few positive ideas/suggestions that could have been helpful in insuring greater participation by Missouri voters in the 2000 elections and in insuring the integrity of all future Missouri elections. A free and fair ballot box is the heart of liberty.

A. I believe the Secretary of State and one or more citizens groups need to encourage local election authorities to do the following:

1. Strive for perfection and total accuracy and at all times before, during, and after an election giving a perception to the public of high ethical standards. A somewhat absurd, amusing bad example of carelessness by an election authority is a posting on the internet, by the Lawrence County Clerk's Office inviting absentee ballot applications for the PRIMARY election through November 2, 1998, although the primary was, of course, completed in August.

2. Return to true secret ballot voting where voters have an actual voting booth and vote behind a curtain.

3. Insist on the statutes and code of state regulations being fully followed, including in the printing of accurate sample ballots LIKE THE BALLOTS OR BALLOT LABELS USED FOR THE ACTUAL ELECTION, absentee voting materials, keeping of tally books, etc.

4. NEVER DESTROY ANY BALLOT, BALLOT CARD, OR OTHER ELECTION MATERIAL UNTIL THE TIME LAPSE FOR DOING SO.

5. Encourage public viewing of both the testing of the tabulation equipment and of the actual tabulation on election night, including any hand counting. VOTE COUNTING SHOULD ONLY BE DONE IN FULL VIEW OF THE PUBLIC.

6. Insist that all vendors for elections materials are properly registered to do business in Missouri and abiding by all Mo. laws. As soon as possible remove for profit vendors from the provision of election materials, requiring all ballots and vote tabulation equipment and software to be under the control of a state commission composed of representatives of all political parties on the ballot, all software source codes to be escrowed and all software and equipment to be bonded.

7. To use only election materials which are in compliance with all Missouri statutes and CSRs.

8. To provide a true copy of any and all election materials, including each of the ballot types, to the Secretary of State as soon as printed.

9. Discourage exit polls.

10. Have area funeral directors check the voter registration lists to insure no one is casting any ballots in the name of the deceased; then provide a list of those deceased weekly to the election authority, to insure when someone dies they are removed. (The secretary of state should insist on the election authorities abiding by 115.195 RsMo. and seek legislation to add a penalty, perhaps forfeiture of office and/or hefty fine for the election authority if death, felony, and misdemeanor convictions are not checked.)

11. Insist voters are notified of the remaining requirements for full voter registration, immediately upon receipt of motor voter application.

12. Be reminded that only poll workers can handle the ballots.

13. Encourage Youth Participants.

14. To adhere strictly to produce all records as required by Missouri law and to retain all such records as required by 42 USC 1974-1974(e). The FEC document Election Document Retention in an Age of High Technology (Number 3 in the series on Innovations in Election Administration ), should be required reading for all Mo. election authorities and their personnel.

15. To require anyone, other than the voter casting a ballot, touching any election materials to take an oath.

B. I further believe the secretary of state needs to notify all the election authorities that individuals or a team(employees or volunteers) from the state office MAY pop in on election nights or after the tabulation to view tabulation of election returns, review all paperwork, and/or interview any computer programmers or others assisting with the tabulation.

C. The Secretary of State should encourage peopleto declare candidacy for office by making the process simple and as quick as possible and through public service announcements. Expanding the secretary of state's branch offices to full service and also accepting declarations of candidacy there would also encouraging more citizens to participate.

D. The Secretary of State should discourage the political parties from announcing who has WON the primary before all ballots have been cast and the majority of the votes counted.

E. The Secretary of State should encourage the media to be fair to all candidates and political parties.

F. The Secretary of State, Elections Division, needs to develop a database of the vendors providing election materials in Missouri, what they provide, who they provide it too, their authority to do business in our state, and if they have been certified as meeting the national standards set forth by the Federal Elections Commission.

G. The Secretary of State in cooperation with volunteers, citizen groups, and corporations needs to publish a non-partisan state voter's guide, including candidate profiles and positions.

H. The Secretary of State in cooperation with citizens groups and the public libraries, needs to establish elections information centers within the public libraries.

I. The Secretary of State needs to distribute a series of quick facts fliers on elections to libraries, schools, and other public places and as web site pages (perhaps animated cartoon like) on at least, how to become a candidate for office, how to vote absentee, how to declare candidacy as a write in and vote for same, how to vote a punch card ballot, how to vote an optical scan ballot, how to encourage others to vote, and how to protect the integrity of the ballot box.

J. The Missouri Secretary of State should develop one or more secure vote tabulation systems and each election authority should be required to phase in the use of such by a certain date.

K. The Secretary of State, in cooperation with citizens groups and/or corporations, needs to develop a travelling FREEDOM MOBILE as a training center on elections, educating the public regarding electronic tabulation and other elections materials, encouraging youth involvement, and encouraging citizen participation in the political process. This could be similar to a bookmobile showing up at various schools, libraries, fairs, and other communty events and facilities.

The solution to recapturing the ballot box in Missouri is not paper hand counted ballots as some believe. This is the TWENTY FIRST century and it is possible to develop a secure counting system free from the internet, free from satellites, free from all potential for fraud. In some places where hand counting is still done, community llegations of fraud and irregularities is also rampant. The solution is to ave a secretary of state who will aggressively insist on perfection in elections, that the election laws and CSRs are consistent with each other and practical and do protect the public from any potential for vote fraud.

I agree with Lawrence County, Missouri voter, Joe Nix, who said in 1998, "The burden of proof of full confidence in the electoral process should rely on the elected official, not the voters." Until we have people in office who are dedicated to that idea we all shall suffer from government by the few versus government f the people, by the people. The concept can begin with ONEPOLITICAL PARTY, ONE COALITION, JUST A FEW PEOPLE AND EVEN IN A FEW short months a lot of POSITIVE difference in Missouri elections CAN BE MADE. It was my original hope this original report would help Missouri Secretary of State, Bekki Cook, and her staff carry that torch. It is now my hope this report will ignite a spirit of determination for a coalition of persons to form a REAL ELECTION REFORM TASK FORCE and pursue much needed changes in Missouri election laws.

Links to other sites on the Web

Photo of Marvalene Pankey
Counting Ballots
Registration and Casting Ballots
Absentee and Write-in Voting
Increasing Voter Participation
State Laws, CSRs, Constitutional Provisions