Chris Lee | Post-Dispatch

(Corrected)

Early returns are in on how well local polls were administered on Election Day. The report mainly is positive.

In the Metro East, voting appeared to be nearly problem-free. The national non-partisan advocacy group Election Protection recorded just 11 problems in St. Clair County and 15 in Madison County, none of them major.

The Missouri side was more problematic. Many voters in St. Louis and St. Louis County stood in line for extended periods of time. A handful of polling places experienced some serious problems, at least during some parts of the day. But the vast majority of voters seem to have had good experiences.
“Given the extraordinary turnout, things went surprisingly smoothly in most places,” said Denise

Lieberman, a civil rights attorney who served as voter protection coordinator for the St. Louis Voter Protection Coalition.

“With a few exceptions,” she said, “election officials responded promptly when problems arose.” That kept small glitches from becoming huge headaches.

Gorgeous weather played a big role, as did the vigilance of voter advocates and the hard work of election officials and poll workers. But voter savvy and patience were the keys.

The most vivid local example of what can go wrong when a polling place is poorly managed occurred in Velda City in north St. Louis County.

Voters there were subjected to brutally long waits, as long as seven hours in some cases, before voting facilities were expanded and lines started to move more quickly as a result. The voters — to their great credit — kept their cool and their sense of humor.

“It became a big party,” Ms. Lieberman reported. Hot dog vendors worked the line, a sidewalk jazz band set up shop and cheers greeted voters as they emerged from the polling place after casting their ballots.

People at some other polling places experienced four-hour waits, a problem that could be solved with legislation and better planning. A law permitting early voting is a good place to start. It would relieve pressure by enabling Missourians to cast ballots for limited periods before Election Day.

Missouri lawmakers have dragged their feet on this issue, and they could pay a price if they don’t take action. Constituents clearly want this convenience.

Also contributing to the congestion was the fact so many voters showed up so early to the polls. If more voters could be encouraged to arrive midmorning, early-morning bottlenecks could be reduced. There was little or no waiting at most polling places after 11 a.m. and for much of the rest of the day.

The St. Louis Board of Elections, much maligned just eight years ago, deserves praise for innovations that kept things moving. Mailed election notification cards came not just with polling place information but also with a sample ballot and clear instructions about acceptable forms of identification. This made it easier for voters to arrive well prepared at the polls.

Every polling place was stocked with enough paper ballots to accommodate every registered voter and had a technician on hand to make necessary repairs to touch-screen voting machines.
Still, of the approximately 7,000 provisional ballots (which were issued to voters with problematic registrations) cast in Missouri, about 3,000 were in the city of St. Louis. That suggests plenty of room for improvement.

In St. Louis County, election officials need to resolve conflicts over the use of paper ballots and mistrust of touch-screen voting machines. Voting rights’ advocates, including Missouri Secretary of State Carnahan, say that everyone should have the option of using a paper ballot. But county election officials thought they knew how many voters would prefer touch-screen machines and opted to save the expense of printing backup paper ballots that would go unused.

An analysis by election officials and advocacy groups of voting problems and patterns already is underway; it should reveal which decisions were smart and which proved unwise. The lessons learned should be used to plan for the next major election.

That’s the best news of all coming out of this election: Officials, citizens, and advocates joined together to make the system work better.

Correction:

We praised the St. Louis city’s election board for innovation and good planning on Election Day. But the editorial also suggested that there still may be “plenty of room for improvement,” claiming that 3,000 of Missouri’s provision ballots (given to voters with problematic registrations) had been cast in St. Louis.

We were mistaken. St. Louis County had 3,000 provisional ballots.

Only 1,000 were voted in St. Louis. That’s proportionately more than the 450 provisional ballots voted in the city during the 2006 election, which means there still is room for improvement.

But it also proves that a job well done on Election Day was even better.