Adolphus Pruitt’s saga of Ms. Funderburk’s difficulty in casting her first vote ever is missing one important piece of information: was she registered to vote in the City of St. Louis? To vote in Missouri you must be a Missouri resident. According to the column, Ms. Funderburk grew up in Detroit but was attending Harris-Stowe State University at the time of the mid-term elections last November. If she was a Missouri resident registered in St. Louis, then the indignation was justified. If not, then all we have is an inexperienced voter who didn’t know what being a registered voter really means and, truth be told, not much of a story. Any chance The St. Louis American could clarify that situation?
Robert Dowgwillo
St. Louis
Pruitt responds: The NAACP presented these matters to the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, who took the matter very seriously. The executive director of the election board met with the dean of Students at Harris-Stowe and conducted a voter register drive to ensure that Ms. Funderburk’s and other students’ voter registrations were properly received and processed in time for the March 5 primary. At no point has the board nor its executive director indicated that Ms. Funderburk’s ability to vote in St. Louis was improper nor invalid. Because the voter registration conducted at HSSU prior to the November 2018 general election was conducted by a third party, there is an assumption that Ms. Funderburk’s registration was either not received by the election authority or lost in processing.
