On Tuesday, St. Charles County voters are heading to the polls with the U.S. Senate race at the top of the ballot. Voters in the County will have their eyes on the County Executive race, plus some downballot races.
St. Charles County Director of Elections Ken Bahr told KMOX that he was originally expecting about 25 to 30% voter turnout in his county.
"Two years ago, we were at 28%. So I expected to be around that number. However, after three hours of voting, we're at 4%," Bahr said. "For election day, we're averaging 1% an hour. And if that rate continues, we're going to see closer to the 15% turnout we saw in our April municipal election. So it looks like it's going to be a very low turnout election."
He said he thinks the issue is low voter enthusiasm, and that while some of the races have been interesting to watch, they aren't necessarily driving non-voters to the polls.
"I think that just goes to either a belief that the elections don't matter, or a lack of understanding of how important these primary elections are for the November election," he said.
He added that it's hard for people to get to the polls if they have a nine-to-five job.
Ken Waller, Jefferson County Clerk, said that in his county, they're expecting a little more than 30% turnout.
"It's been pretty steady in the first three hours. But with the expected heat today, I always figured that the first two or three or four hours is going to be a pretty steady amount of voters," Waller said.
He said the JeffCo polling places have plenty of workers, though there were some COVID cases that put some people out. However, they were prepared with some people on standby to work the polls.
St. Louis County posted on their Facebook at 4 p.m., three hours before the polls closed, that they had a turnout rate of 21%.
Stay tuned to KMOX.com and our social media for more election updates as they come.
