Voter registration deadlines - KOAM TV 7

Voter registration deadlines

Voters in Jasper County are scrambling to make sure they meet Wednesday's Missouri voter registration deadline.

The county clerk's office in Carthage was as busy as ever on Tuesday as the public rushes to register to vote in the November election before deadline.

"It's worse this year," says Doris Moorehouse, the office manager for the Jasper County election office.  "I think there are more people that will be voting this year because our office has been extremely busy."

According to the voter registration office in Jasper County before you can fill out a ballot at a polling station you must first make sure you are registered to vote.  They say it is as simple as stopping by their office either in Carthage or Joplin and filling out a form.

For those unable to stop by they can print out the form online and put it in the mailbox.  However, it must be postmarked no later than October 10 for you to be eligible to vote in the November 6th election.

"It's very easy to do, they just have to fill out a card and it's very easy with their name and address, birth date, drivers license number, last four digits of their social security number," says Moorehouse.

For the those who have registered to vote but have moved since the last election, Jasper County Clerk Bonnie Earl says there is no deadline to change your address if you are already registered to vote.

"They would be allowed to vote but they would have to go to their own precinct - we'd fill out a change of address card and they would have to go to their own precinct," says Earl.

While the voter registration deadline is Wednesday for Missouri, in Oklahoma it is Friday October 12 and in Kansas it's Tuesday October 16.  If you don't know if you are registered to vote or are not sure of where to go on election day, visit your state's Secretary of State's website:

• Kansas
• Missouri
• Oklahoma