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'Slow' and 'steady' Mo. primary voter turnout

(via Flickr/ Daniel Morrison)

Updated 6:47 p.m. 

Rita Days is the St. Louis County Board of Elections' Democratic director. She says the day has gone as planned.

“I guess it’s what you’d call steady all morning and of course this afternoon has been about the same. So it has not really been a rush or lines or anything like that,” Days said.

The St. Louis Board of Elections is reporting a steady flow of activity, but it's not as heavy as anticipated.

Mary Wheeler-Jones is the Democratic Director of Elections in the city of St. Louis.

“From what we’ve been hearing it’s definitely not any higher than we anticipated. It’s definitely not over 20 or 25 percent. It’s been a slow, steady day,” Wheeler-Jones said.

Original story:

Voters in Missouri are heading to the polls today to cast their ballots in the primary elections. The Secretary of State's office expects voter turnout to be around 25 percent, while the City of St. Louis projected that 30 percent of registered voters would show.

But, some polls are seeing few voters so far today.

A handful of people were standing on the sidewalk in front of the Kappa House on North Vandeventer. They campaigned for various candidates on today's ballot. Madeline Cruise had been at this poll since 5:45 a.m showing her support for city treasurer candidate Jeffrey Boyd. She says turnout has been, well, slow.

"Slow, very slow," Cruise said. "But, we're looking for a whole lot of them to come out this evening."

The St. Louis Board of Elections is reporting a steady flow of activity today. Gary Stoff, the Republican director, says, so far, the pace isn't as heavy as anticipated. He says city election officials were expecting a good turnout, possibly above the statewide forecast because there are so many hotly contested races in St. Louis.

Greg Meyer had been at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church at Pernod and Hampton since around 6 a.m. showing his support for lieutenant governor candidate Fred Kratky.

"The numbers here have been good," Meyer said. "It's been steady. And it's the time of day where it's usually slow. So, I'm not surprised that we don't' have large numbers now, but it'll pick up from 3 p.m. to  6 p.m. It's been good."

Polls close at 7 p.m. today.

  • For the latest on the Missouri Primaries and other elections news, see our website BeyondNovember.org - a collaboration with The St. Louis Beacon and Nine Network of Public Media.

Follow Julie Bierach on Twitter: @jbierach

Maria is the newscast, business and education editor for St. Louis Public Radio.