Registration for August primary ends July 9

Who do you want for Sheriff of St. Francois County?  County Commissioner? 107th Representative?

You can help decide who will fill these important local offices, but only if you’re registered to vote by July 9 to cast your ballot in the Aug. 5 election.

Even if you cannot vote in person that day, absentee ballots are available now from the St. Francois County Clerk’s office and may be requested in person, by phone or by mail.

There are several options for registering to vote.

Perhaps the easiest is to pay a visit to the St. Francois County Clerk’s office in the St. Francois County Courthouse Annex located at 1 West Liberty in Farmington. Alternately, you can call the Clerk’s office at 756-5411 and request a post card for voter registration application.

You can fill out the Missouri Voter Registration application online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=voter .

You can register at any Department of Motor Vehicles office or state agency providing public services such as WIC, social services, etc. and there are also registration drives periodically at area schools and on the Mineral Area College campus.

To register, you must be 18 years of age by election day and you must be a U.S. citizen and Missouri resident.

You cannot vote while confined in prison or while on probation or parole after conviction of a felony. Anyone convicted of a felony or misdemeanor connected with voting or the right of suffrage is also prohibited from voting.

There are four contests to decide at the local level in the upcoming primary, as well as a number of state races.

Contested races on the Democrat side are for Commissioner District 1 and 2, Sheriff, Representative 107th, Governor, Lieutenant Governor,  Treasurer, Attorney General.

Contested races on the Republican side are for Governor and  Lieutenant Governor.

The Daily Journal will be publishing candidate profiles for local contested races in its upcoming editions.

The last day for raising new campaign issues for the election will be July 29. After that, letters to the editor or announcements that raise new issues will be held until after the election. This is to prevent 11th-hour charges being made that cannot be verified or answered by the opponent prior to the election.