The lead editorial in yesterday morning’s News-Leader unfortunately misses the mark and misleads its readers.  In the editorial, the opinion-writers take City Council to task for postponing the February 8 primary due to the inability of the County Clerk to ensure that all polling places were open, accessible, and staffed—as required by state law.

Had the News-Leader reported all the discussions that occurred, they would have pointed out that the official designated by the state to hold and monitor elections is the County Clerk.  In his remarks, Mr. Struckhoff told Council that this was the first time in his 28 years of service that he had ever considered making such a request.

Struckhoff indicated that, not only had we just gone through a storm that the weather service personnel deemed a “blizzard,” but he also pointed out that many of the polling places were in private buildings such as churches—buildings that might not be dug out and accessible by the time the election occurred.

In addition, he pointed out that the average age of poll workers was around 72 years old and that he already had received a number of calls indicating that the workers were unable to venture out to the polls at 5:00 in the morning on election day.

The News-Leader also seems to think that finances entered into the decision to delay the vote.  This is absolutely incorrect.  If I recall the discussion correctly, Mr. Struckhoff was the one who mentioned the cost of the election, and that was in terms of what had already been spent.  No Council member was interested in the cost—the funds were already budgeted and the issue of public safety was the primary, if not the only, consideration.  I believe Mr. Burlison did ask how much would be saved if the election were rolled into the General Election, but that question was more in terms of a follow-up to Mr. Struckhoff’s comments.

Secondly, a letter was read from Councilman Ibarra—who was absent from the emergency meeting—stating his opposition to postponing or cancelling the election.  As usual, Nick had his mind made up before he heard any of the issues and statements from Mr. Struckhoff, and further went on to compare moving a battalion of military personnel around the world to getting elderly volunteers to polling places.  This is a case of comparing apples to creek gravel

The County does not have a battalion of poll workers being billeted in a human warehouse, ready 24 hours a day to move out.  Secondly, the County does not have a battalion-strength inventory of Humvees to get election judges to the polling places in inclement weather.  Nor does it have battalion strength snow-removal equipment on hand.

The  News-Leader went on to question why this election and not the election following the big ice storm in 2007.  The main reason is that the ice was coated on the City’s trees, not on the streets and the sidewalks.  Getting around as well as in and out of buildings was not the issue.  The pavements of the city were clear—the problem was merely getting electricity to the polling places.

However, one of the benefits of this situation is that the Missouri Court of Appeals has clarified an issue that was a bit murky in the Charter.  They ruled that the City could not cancel an election called for in the Charter, but that it could postpone the election because of natural disasters.  Since this was the first request of this nature made since the adoption of the Charter, it provides direction to any future Councils who might be responsible for scheduling an election in the wake of snow, floods, or the ever-present tornadoes that abound in the spring.

So—like most issues that City Council deals with—if it were easy, someone else would have made the decision.  We faced the situation—at least those of us who attended the emergency meeting—and we made the decision.  Per state law, we then petitioned the Court of Appeals for the final decision.  The law was followed; no apologies are required from the Council.

Our political system worked—in public and transparently—and Springfield voters and election judges will have an easier time of getting to the polls—provided, of course, the New Madrid fault line doesn’t let go between now and then!  Then we might need that battalion of soldiers helping mop up in southeast Missouri.