Early Voting Surges as Missouri Primary Election Nears

Hoskins told Missourinet that county clerks across the state are reporting increased participation during the state’s two-week no-excuse absentee voting period.

“Early voting turnout has been increased from prior years,” Hoskins said. “Folks are recognizing that they can vote up to two weeks early. I think there’s some excitement about different things that are on the ballot, whether that’s local races or Amendment 4 and Amendment 5.”

Hoskins projects statewide turnout of about 32% for the primary, a figure that would exceed turnout in many recent August elections.

Hoskins told Missourinet that turnout estimates vary widely by county.

“Turnout based on conversations with our local election authorities and county clerks to be about 32% statewide,” Hoskins said. “Now we’ve seen some jurisdictions that have been predicted and estimated voter turnout as low as 20% and we’ve seen others as high as 70%.”

According to Hoskins, the variation largely depends on whether counties have contested local races and competitive elections on the ballot.

“The 20% obviously would be in some of those locations that don’t have any local contested primaries,” Hoskins said. “With 70%, we have a lot of pretty hotly contested primaries all throughout the state, whether that’s the new Congressional District 6 up in northern Missouri or the new Congressional District 5, which is basically west-central Missouri.”

In addition to local races, Missouri voters will decide four statewide constitutional amendments. The highest-profile measures include Amendment 4, which would change the requirements for approving constitutional amendments through the initiative petition process, and Amendment 5, which would begin phasing out Missouri’s individual income tax. Amendment 1 would renew a conservation and state parks sales tax, while Amendment 2 would require Jackson County to elect its county assessor.