Missourians voting early are seeing long lines. Should officials have been more prepared?
When Robert Halas showed up to vote in Blue Springs on Tuesday, it was his second attempt at voting early. The Lee’s Summit resident tried on Friday but had plans later in the day and couldn’t wait the four hours.
After waiting an hour and 50 minutes in line, the retiree joked, “I can’t wait anymore, I’m leaving.”
Swarms of voters across Missouri have gone to polling locations this week hoping to vote early ahead of the Nov. 5 election. When they arrive, many have faced long wait lines, sometimes topping four hours, and election authorities are bracing for even more early voters.
The Kansas City-area has felt the brunt of the frustration.
The Star spoke with state lawmakers, election authorities and voters about the causes of the long wait lines. Together, they pointed to a constellation of issues that emphasize one central theme: It’s the first presidential election after Missouri expanded early voting in 2022, called “no-excuse absentee,” and election authorities weren’t expecting such an influx.
“This is a much bigger turnout for ‘no-excuse’ than we anticipated,” said Sara Zorich, a director with the Jackson County Election Board. “But we’re excited. I mean, people are coming out and voting.”
The rush has raised questions about why Missouri election authorities, particularly in the Kansas City-area, did not offer more early voting polling locations. The Jackson County Election Board offered just three locations for residents who live outside of Kansas City, but only two are open at the same time. The Kansas City Election Board has six locations.
Across the state line in Kansas, Johnson County has 18 early voting sites. Elsewhere in the Kansas City metro area, Wyandotte County voters have five early voting stations to choose from between now and Saturday, and Leavenworth County is offering four weekday early voting sites and one on Saturday.
And on the other side of the state, St. Louis County has offered 14 early voting locations.
“The lines in Jackson County and probably Kansas City and Clay County are far too long,” said Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican. “I think they’ll make adjustments as they go forward. That won’t help anybody this year and probably won’t make anybody happy.”
There are several possible reasons for the long wait lines, said JoDonn Chaney, a spokesperson for the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office. The biggest cause could simply be that the lines are indicative of higher turnout overall this election, he said.
Chaney anticipated that early voting may become even more popular in the next election cycle.
“Local election authorities will, based on what they’re learning here in this go-around, of course, they will adjust and try to accommodate, if they have the resources, these long lines,” Chaney said. He said it was too early to predict whether election authorities would open up more polling places in the future.
As of Wednesday, the Jackson County Election Board has reported 14,239 people who have voted using no-excuse absentee. Statewide, officials are expecting total voter turnout to reach 73% this year.
Zorich said that the two additional locations Jackson County offered for early voting were supposed to be “an experiment” for the presidential election. She and Tammy Brown, the other director, plan to meet with the Jackson County Election Board to see what changes need to be made during the next election cycle.
“We just don’t have enough warehouse space to store all of the equipment, all those, you know, the machines that we use and all of that, at this time,” she said. “We’re going to have to have some bigger facilities to do this if we’re doing it.”
Zorich said that offering early voting at different locations “has been a challenge.”
“Trying to staff has been a challenge,” she said. “So when we don’t have enough staff, then we are pulled from doing what we do to try to prepare for Tuesday.”
Zorich and Brown did not immediately respond to an email asking why Jackson County only offered three early voting locations.
Missouri began allowing no-excuse early voting during the November 2022 election after it was included in a sweeping elections law. However, this year marks the first presidential election year in which voters had the option.
The large increase in early voting also comes as Missouri will elect a new governor and decide on several key issues, including abortion rights, sports betting and a measure to increase minimum wage. Rep. Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said some of the long lines can be attributed to the length of the ballot.
“This ballot is really long and it is confusing, and the language in the amendments is confusing,” Aune said. “People are really needing to spend time with their ballot and make sure that they’re getting the questions right…I really do think that that is part of the slowdown.”
‘Better prepared.’
After noticing the large demand in 2022, St. Louis County increased its number of polling places from seven to 14 this year, said Eric Fey, the Democratic director of elections for St. Louis County. While the county has seen a flurry of voters, and some wait times, St. Louis County hasn’t reached the long wait times experienced in the Kansas City area, he said.
“We haven’t seen anything like, you know, two, three or four hours long,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a St. Louis Democrat, said the low number of early-voting polling locations in the Kansas City area was “unfortunate.” He said that rarely anybody used early voting when it was first allowed in 2022 but now it’s become more popular.
“Maybe they’ll be able to expand that next time around,” he said.
Some top Missouri lawmakers have experienced the long wait times firsthand.
When House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, went to vote at the Blue Springs location, he was told it would be a three to four-hour wait.
Patterson, who is poised to be the next House speaker if he wins reelection, said he still hasn’t voted and plans to vote on Election Day.
“I think it’s just a matter of they didn’t know how many people would want to ‘no excuse absentee’ vote,” he said. “So I think next time, they’ll be better prepared.”
Patterson said he thinks election authorities will need to open up more locations in the future.
“I think it’s just hard to predict how enthusiastic people would be about this,” he said. “But I think, as we go forward, you’re going to see more ‘no excuse absentee’ voting. It’s a great thing.”
Star reporters Eleanor Nash and Matthew Kelly contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 3:04 PM.
