So I live in Kansas City but won't be in the area for election time and need an absentee ballot.

I filled out the form to request an absentee ballot. but at the bottom it says "Mail this completed form to your local election authority. Addresses can be found on the Secretary of State website [link]."

So I click the link -- and it leads me to a page where the only address visible is the Secretary of State address. But is that the place to send it? Sure sounds that way... Secretary of State certainly has authority over my local elections, and the link just sent me here.

But I'd better check, after all, democracy is important.

So I go to the search box and enter the search term "local election authority address."

No results. None.

Hmm.

Then after some clicking around on google and on the secretary of state website I find a How To Vote page. It reads in ominous ALL CAPS:

"DO NOT SEND ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE. ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATIONS MUST BE SENT TO THE APPROPRIATE LOCAL ELECTION AUTHORITY BY THE DEADLINE IN ORDER TO BE VALID. "

Um, you just sent me to the very address you are warning me will make my application invalid.

Good thing I figured that out, because I was about to use the other address.

Why is this Ominous Warning not actually on the form itself? Why does the form lead you to the //wrong address//?

Do we have a count of how many absentee ballot applications actually arrived at the wrong address and were discarded? Because those ALL CAPS sure seem to suggest this is something that happens quite a bit.

So essentially what this means is that the Missouri absentee ballot application form leads you to an address that will get your vote thrown away, and if you search the site for the correct address you won't find it, and there is a warning about this but //not on the form itself.//

I should point out that I am a PhD student and consider myself pretty observant and internet search friendly. And I almost had my vote thrown away.

I learned as a gradeschooler that the vote is fundamental to our democracy. Ensuring everyone can exercise their right to vote is maybe the single most important task of our elected officials - the vote is what everything follows from in democracy. What are the people over at the Missouri Secretary of State office thinking, exactly?

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the absentee ballot form - note link on where to send the form to

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where the link to how to submit the form sends you

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What happens if you get confused and search for the correct address - no results

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The fine print you discover if you actually take the time to search Google and read carefully instead.