Voter Protection

The Clay for Congress Campaign Committee wants to ensure that every citizen has the right to vote, their voting is unencumbered and their vote counts. Know your rights before you go to the polls in November.

Straight Party Voting Outlawed

The practice of voting for a slate of candidates by punching a single number on the ballot is no longer permitted in Missouri. Read more about current voting procedures..

Uniform Voting Standards

During the November 2000 election the U.S. Department of Justice determined that the city of St. Louis disenfranchised voters in that jurisdiction. In April of 2000, the candidate for congress, Lacy Clay, warned the St. Louis City Board of Elections that the creation of their inactive voting list was created illegally and violated the voting rights of those on it. He also warned that there would be mass disenfranchisement of the St. Louis voters if something were not done to correct the problems with the inactive voting list. The St. Louis City Board of Elections did not take heed, but Lacy Clay tried to prevent the disenfranchisement of voters by educating the community of the inactive voter list and advising them of actions to take to make sure their vote counted.

On January 6, 2005 Congressman Clay addressed his colleagues in the well of the house and expressed the need for Congress to establish unified standards for all voters and all ballots cast in federal elections. Read the contents of his address.

Voter Registration

Pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, PL 107-252, if you register to vote by mail and it is the first time you have registered to vote in your jurisdiction, you must submit a current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows your name and address with this application or present it the first time you vote in a federal election to the appropriate state or local election official.

Missouri requires voter registrations to be a certain format and printed on a thicker type of paper than that used by regular printers, voter registrations cannot be completed online, or from a registration form printed from the internet.

Eligible Missouri residents may obtain a registration form from one of these sites:

The Missouri Secretary of State (Secretary Robin Carnahan) has directions on their website. http://www.sos.mo.gov/

Go to Election & Voter Information, then Registration Information to obtain a mail in voter registration post card.

The City of St. Louis Board of Election Web Site answers a lot of questions you may have about registering to vote. Your local library should have voter registration cards. http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/electionbd/

The St. Louis County Board of Election Web Site allows you to fill out your voter registration card on line, print it and mail it in. http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/elections/

All other persons can register to vote by accessing the National Democratic Party Web site, http://electionimpact.votenet.com/dnc/. Unfortunately, Missouri residents cannot utilize this site. If you live overseas there are special instructions listed on this website.