How many votes have been cast so far in the Kansas City area? What early totals show
Missouri voters have headed to the polls in significant numbers ever since no-excuse early voting kicked off in the state on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
While it’s difficult to compare the county-level totals to past presidential election years due to COVID-19 and changing election rules, Kansas City area election officials say the early voter turnout so far has been greater than numbers seen in 2020 and 2016.
The same is true in Kansas, where voter totals are surpassing numbers seen in previous elections.
Between the four offices that conduct elections in the Kansas City area, just over 63,000 people have cast their ballots so far in person on the Missouri side of the metro as of Monday, Oct. 28. But if you haven’t voted, there’s still time to do so before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
How many people have voted early in the Kansas City area so far?
Kansas City: Nearly 18,000 people have voted so far in the portion of Kansas City within Jackson County. That’s around 7.7% of the roughly 233,000 voters registered in that jurisdiction.
Jackson County: More than 10,600 people have voted early in person so far in the rest of Jackson County. That’s around 3.8% of the county’s roughly 278,000 registered voters outside Kansas City limits.
Clay County: A little over 25,000 people have voted early in person so far. That’s around 13.6% of the county’s roughly 184,000 registered voters.
Platte County: About 9,400 people have voted early in person so far. That’s around 11.4% of the county’s 82,808 registered voters. The county has also sent out around 2,000 absentee ballots. Returned ballots will begin being counted closer to Election Day.
How does voter turnout so far compare to previous presidential election years?
It’s difficult to compare 2024’s early voting turnout to previous years due to the shifting rules and circumstances surrounding recent elections. In 2020, COVID-19 caused many voters to submit absentee ballots by mail rather than venture to the polls, using the pandemic as a state-approved excuse to stay home.
Prior to that, in 2016 and before, Missouri didn’t yet have no-excuse early voting — voters needed an approved excuse to vote early in person or by mail. While absentee ballots are already coming in for 2024, election boards won’t start opening and counting them until closer to Election Day.
While direct comparison data isn’t available, election officials around the metro say that, anecdotally, early turnout has been high compared to past years.
Kansas City Election Board co-director Shawn Kieffer said that early voting turnout is currently in line with what he expected based on past elections, but that numbers are rising every day. At this rate, KCEB voting sites could see “record highs” by the end of this week, he said.
Already the election board has opened an overflow early voting location for voters who come to the main election office, and last week added seven additional voting machines to the early voting site at Country Club Christian Church in Brookside.
Other local election offices are also seeing high early voting turnout.
“I remember being very excited that we were voting about 1,000 people a day during this week in 2020,” said Chris Hershey, a co-director of the Platte County Election Board. “And (this year) we’ve been averaging 1,500 a day starting last week. So I expect we’ll be above that now.”
Kieffer added that voters should research their ballots ahead of time to prepare for the spate of questions and candidates they’ll see in the voting booth. You can find your sample ballot through the Missouri Secretary of State’s voter registration lookup tool and read the nonpartisan Kansas City Voter Guide compiled by local media outlets at kcvoterguide.org.
Do you have more questions about voting in the 2024 general election? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 5:14 PM.
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