The Cape Girardeau County clerk's office will this week be sending voters new identification cards designed to eventually expedite the check-in process at polling sites.

The new cards can be folded to wallet-size and will contain more information than past versions, including a bar code that can be scanned, according to a news release sent Wednesday. County election supervisor Joey Keys said officials will pilot the scanning equipment Tuesday in one polling site, Bethany Baptist Church, then evaluate its success and determine how widely it will be implemented.

Voters are encouraged to examine the cards for accuracy and contact the county clerk's office with any name, precinct or polling place discrepancies. Keys said voters may notice changes compared to previous cards due to recent redistricting and consolidation of some polling sites.

Boundaries in the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives, as well as in Cape Girardeau and Jackson city wards, were redrawn last year following the 2010 census.

Address changes within the county can be noted on the back of the card and submitted by mail.

The county-issued card is not the only way voters can identify themselves at the polls. The secretary of state's elections division website lists the following as acceptable documents: identification issued by the federal government, state of Missouri or a local election authority; identification issued by a public or private Missouri institution of higher education; a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government document that contains the name and address of the voter; driver's license or state identification card issued by another state.

If a voter does not have any of those forms of identification, two supervising election judges, one from each major political party, must attest they know the voter for them to be allowed to cast a ballot.

The county clerk's office is required to issue new voter identification cards every two years. This year, a new system intended to reduce waste compared voter addresses with U.S. Postal Service records and requests for confirmation were sent before the cards were issued. Creating and sending the new cards cost $16,000 to $17,000, Summers said.

Voters who do not receive their new card by the third week in April are asked to contact the county clerk's office at 243-3547.

salderman@semissourian.com

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