ST. LOUIS – Elections officials tell FOX 2 they’re making big adjustments on the fly after heavy turnout during the first three days of in-person, no-excuse absentee early voting.
Monday, the day before no-excuse early voting started, the St. Charles County Director of Elections expected 10 percent of total turnout to come from early voting. He’s just changed that prediction by more than double—to 25 percent.
St. Louis County, which has the most registered voters in the state, is even busier.
“It’s exceeded our expectations for sure,” Eric Fey, Democratic director of elections for St. Louis County, said. “(Thursday) we did over 18,000 people.”
There have been more than 50,000 through the first three days, he added.
It’s not just happening at the 14 early voting locations in St. Louis County, either. St. Charles County has had more than 12,000 people at its two locations through the first three days. The election authority is bringing in traffic cops to help handle gridlock getting into and out of the parking lots.
Lines have been out the doors and down the sidewalks at the eight early voting locations in the City of St. Louis.
Elections officials still preach the benefits of voting early and day let the early lines deter you.
“I encourage people to come to vote early so that if there’s any issue with their voting registration, we can fix that here, in house, before election day; we have more time to be able to handle that,” Kurt Bahr, director of elections for St. Charles County, said.
“On Election Day there’s not extra room, extra time, so we still encourage people to vote early; get that out of the way, but please research your ballot and know what you’re going to vote for when you go to do it,” Fey said.
Elections officials are having to bring in more election judges, voting stations, or both.
To check updated wait times in St. Louis County online, click here.