Jackson County is setting records for absentee ballots received. Here are the numbers
Missouri’s Jackson County has tripled the number of absentee ballots received in 2020 compared to four years ago ... and that’s with more than a week remaining ahead of Nov. 3’s election day.
The county’s election board said in an email Friday it had processed 49,983 absentee/mail-in ballots as of 8 a.m. That is more than was processed in 2016 (16,321), 2012 (14,222) and 2008 (16,167) combined.
Jackson County also reported that 18,285 of this year’s absentee votes had been placed in person.
Missouri, unlike Kansas, does not have early in-person voting available to the entire population. Absentee ballots can be filled out in person by voters with one of seven conditions, which includes travel plans on Election Day or religious beliefs that would keep them from voting on Nov. 3. In this particular election, anyone over the age of 65 also automatically qualifies for absentee voting because of the threat of COVID-19.
Jackson County is reporting a record for registered voters as well. Its count of 244,454 registrations is more than 10,000 ahead of the previous top mark in 2008 (234,109). The county had 224,452 registered voters in 2018, 230,465 in 2016 and 216,459 in 2012.
In-person absentee voting continues through 5 p.m. on Nov. 2. Any absentee ballots received via mail also can be sent back to the election board or returned at the absentee drop-off site.
Missouri mail-in ballots — which were available to all eligible voters — must be sent through the post office back to the election board. The envelope requires notarization, and those ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on election day.
Jackson County, which houses Kansas City, has the state’s second-highest population, trailing only St. Louis County.
