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Blunt Plans Advisory Board to Modify Missouri Election Law

November 30, 2000
By: Seth Bachelier
State Capital Bureau

This is Seth Bachelier for Missouri Capitol Caucus.

With all of the voting problems occurring in Florida, Missouri may end up changing its election laws.

Even though Missouri law doesn't include provisions concerning hand recounts, current Secretary of State spokesman Jim Grebing says it's not just Missouri that has issues.

Actuality:grebing
RunTime: 8 seconds
OutCue: "margin that close."
Contents: Jim Grebing says he believes few election systems would be able to withstand such scrutiny in such a close race.

To combat the potential problem, new Secretary of State elect Matt Blunt says the first thing he will do when he takes office in January is set up an advisory board.

This advisory board will have numerous objectives.

But Blunt says the written statutes and upgrading election technology head the list.

Actuality:blunt
RunTime: 10 seconds
OutCue: "century election equipment."
Contents: Matt Blunt says he plans to look over every statute and help bring new election technology to Missouri.

With 43 counties across the state still using punch card ballots, hand recounts would have been a major issue.

So more and more counties are turning to optical scanners.

These types of ballots are filled out with number two pencils and then scanned to tabulate the results.

While taxpayer money needs to be handled carefully, Blunt says he thinks more resources need to be allotted to election officials so no disasters arise in the future.

Actuality:blunt3
RunTime: 9 seconds
OutCue: "and other states."
Contents: Blunt says the advisory board will have multiple suggestions for the legislature to consider.

Any new election technology will be aimed at making the voting procedure easier to eliminate races that are "too close to call."

From Jefferson City, I'm Seth Bachelier.