By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, Mo. – A committee charged with reforming Missouri's election system will visit St. Louis Monday afternoon to hear citizens' opinions.
The Missouri State Plan Committee is drafting a proposal to comply with federal election reform legislation that President Bush signed last October.
Missouri Secretary of State spokesman Spence Jackson says the state could receive up to $76 million of federal money to help train poll workers and upgrade the state's voter database. "We're holding these field hearings in five different locations across the state to gather citizen input on what the people of Missouri feel we ought to try to spend those federal resources on to improve our elections here in the state," Jackson said.
Making more polling places available to disabled voters is one item on the agenda.
"There's a very keen interest among the people of St. Louis and the St. Louis metropolitan region in election reform and improving the elections process. So I think in St. Louis we'll hear a little bit of everything," added Jackson.
The meeting begins at 2:00 p.m. Monday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis's Millennium Center.