Missouri voter turnout ‘increasing every day’ during early voting period

On October 31, 2024By Karl

Rudi Keller
| Missouri Independent

Don’t call it early voting. It is an “unexcused absence” vote.

Whatever it’s called, it’s clearly popular in Missouri. Late Tuesday morning, multiple 100,000 St. Louis County voters had voted. This amounts to nearly 20% of the total votes recorded in the county in the 2020 presidential race.

Across the Missouri River from St. It’s the same story in Charles County.

Of Missouri’s 116 voting districts, only St. St. Louis County came in second in total 2020 voting, behind St. Louis County. Charles had more than 35,000 votes cast when offices closed Monday, according to Kurt Bahr, the county’s elections director.

Bahr is working two locations for no-excuse absentee voting.

Missouri law allows two weeks for no-excuse absentee voting Passed in 2022. This was also included in a bill that would require the use of a government-issued ID to vote.

Two weeks of early voting was Senate Democrats’ price for allowing the bill to come to a vote.

Bahr, St. Some of the early votes in the Charles County count were traditional absentee ballots for people who would be out of town or physically unable to get to the polls on Nov. 5, he said. But while all election authorities in the state are open to in-person voting, the vast majority are people taking advantage of the new law to vote.

“If I get 5,000 more people today between my office and the satellite location, which we probably will, we will surpass the entire number of voters who voted in the April election,” Bahr said.

In Greene County, which had the fourth-largest voter turnout on record in 2020, about 2,500 people voted each day last week and that number jumped to 3,000 on Monday, Clerk Shane Schoeller said.

“I estimate that turnout will be between 20 and 25 percent by the end of the no-excuse absentee voting period,” Schoeller said.

In Boone County, which ranked ninth with 91,130 votes cast for president in 2020, the number of people already voting is approaching the 14,000 total in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led large numbers of people to vote. -via mail option.

Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said 2,000 people voted Saturday at polling places at a mall and a central park. This weekend he will bring mobile voting centers to Ashland and Centralia, the two largest communities in the county outside of Columbia.

“It’s increasing every day,” Lennon said.

In smaller regions, participation is equally strong. In Cape Girardeau County in southeast Missouri, 1,400 ballots were cast in the first two days of no-excuse voting, Clerk Kara Clark Summers said last week.

“There are people voting,” he said Thursday. “I was here until 7.30 last night.”

St. Although St. Louis County is the top 10 voting precinct that posts turnout figures on its website, news outlets across the state report: long lines and many people waiting 45 minutes or one hour voting in many clerk’s offices.

But Bahr said the delays didn’t deter anyone. There is a parking problem in its central location and it can take half an hour or more to find a parking space. It operates a shuttle from a nearby church parking lot to ease traffic.

He said people came in twos and threes and were generally in a good mood.

“Early voting tends to be a little bit more of a social event for voters,” Bahr said.

A traditional absentee ballot is cast because a person is out of town or physically unable to get to the polls on Election Day. While liberal groups across the country tout early voting as a way to increase turnout, it is generally opposed by conservatives, who argue it increases the likelihood of election problems.

The first election with no-excuse early voting available in Missouri took place in November 2022.

This is the first presidential election to use the new law, and Lennon said he thinks some of that increase is due to word of mouth from people who have voted before.

“It’s just that people are realizing that we have that option now,” he said. “But most of these are people who are worried they won’t be able to go to the polls on Election Day. ‘What happens if there is an emergency?’ “They don’t want to worry about it.”

Retired educator Kathy Ritter, who voted Tuesday at the Boone County Government Center in Columbia, said she loved having the opportunity to come and vote at any time of day.

“It’s a great amenity for our community,” he said. “The queue was long but it went quickly.”

Missouri employers required by law Allowing workers three hours to vote on Election Day, but only if the employee requests it in advance and there is no three-hour period during which they are not working while the polls are open.

“Just having the flexibility to vote the day before, because on that one day, especially for working people, it can be hard to squeeze in time to vote,” Ritter said.

The connection between no-excuse absentee voting and ID requirements

The connection between early voting and the voter ID law is not just because they are included in the same bill. As the price for including it, Republicans have demanded language that would end no-excuse absentee voting if the ID provisions are struck down by the courts.

Missouri Republicans have introduced what is known as the photo ID bill several times, and voters approved adding it to the state constitution in 2016, but it has never withstood a legal challenge.

The new law is being tested in court and the decision could come at any time. On Oct. 21, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem heard final arguments in the 2022 appeal and placed the case on recommendation.

The case focuses on the difficulties faced by three people who obtained government-issued identification documents. Problems include finding transportation to the state licensing office, spelling errors in important documents, or missing documents entirely due to age.

Identity document is required for voting to be acceptable. Missouri or federally issued with a photo, date of birth and expiration date. ID that has expired since the last general election is also acceptable.

Voters who do not have one of these ID types can cast a provisional ballot. For the ballot to be counted, the voter must return to the polling place and present acceptable identification or hope that the signature on the ballot is accepted as a valid match with their signature on file.

Before the law comes into force in 2022, a voter also out of state driver’s license or identification card, student ID, voter registration card issued by the local election authority, or a recent bank statement or utility bill mailed to their registered address.

Former state representative Bahr said that if Beetem decides against the law, there will be demands for the law to be re-enacted without any warning.

“There would be a backlash because most voters, Republicans, Democrats and voters in general, are happy with this access to their ballot box and the convenience of not having to worry about a single day,” Bahr said.

Schoeller, who also serves in the legislature, said he thinks if the courts strike down the identification law, there will be people pushing for the law to be reinstated.

“I’ve always been an advocate for that, especially once you become an election authority and you realize that concentrating all your issues on election day creates a lot of challenges for voters,” he said.

The popularity of early voting does not appear to be partisan. Louis County voted 61% for Joe Biden in 2020, while St. Louis County voted 61% for Joe Biden. Charles County voted 58% for Trump.

Election officials liked it as much as voters, if not more, Bahr said.

“First of all, we like people to vote. We love helping people,” Bahr said. “Secondly, if everything happens in one day, you know, there’s always that fear of ‘what happens if something goes wrong?’ “But if we can handle the problems early, we can handle them in time.”

The impact of early voting on Election Day

Both Bahr and Lennon said there would be no delay in making the election results available to the public because of the extra early votes.

Lennon said that he generally comes to his office about an hour after the polls close and announces the absentee results, and that this will not change.

The increase in early voting could indicate a big increase in overall turnout, but election authorities do not foresee much change from four years ago.

There are some very high-profile ballot measures on abortion rights and sports betting this year, but the only statewide candidate race where large sums are being spent on advertising is the U.S. Senate contest.

About 70 percent of registered voters in Missouri voted in the 2020 election, which is Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s estimate for this year, spokeswoman JoDonn Chaney said.

That’s Lennon’s prediction for Boone County, too. The early voting period is changing when people vote, but he doesn’t expect it to lead to a huge increase in turnout.

“I’m sticking to 70,” he said. “In 2020 it was 70%, so I feel pretty confident.”

Bahr, St. He said he expects a 75% turnout in Charles County, about the same as 2020.

For Ritter, who voted in Boone County, the urge to vote immediately was overwhelming.

“I was so excited to vote and so motivated to vote that I couldn’t wait until Nov. 5 to do it,” she said.

He said he wanted civility in politics, and that’s what he voted for.

“I’m looking for some sanity in politics, and I felt like my little voice could be heard,” Ritter said. “And if it can be heard, I’ll put it out there today.”

This story was first published on: missouriindependence.com.