The St. Louis region’s election officials are encouraging voters to take advantage of the state’s no excuse, in person absentee period — which begins on Tuesday and runs through Nov. 4.
Before 2022, Missourians who wanted to vote early had to provide a specific excuse — such as being out of town on Election Day. Local election officials in both parties panned this system, partly because there’s no way for them to figure out whether someone is being truthful in why they’re voting early.
Starting on Tuesday, Missourians can go to designated locations in their county and cast a ballot for any reason. They must bring a government-issued photo ID that’s either valid or expired since the last federal election in November 2022.
During a press conference at the St. Louis County Board of Elections headquarters in St. Ann, the officials of St. Louis and St. Louis County’s election authorities said voting early could reduce long lines on Election Day. Both St. Louis and St. Louis County have particularly long ballots this year, thanks to judge retention elections and state and local propositions.
“If a voter waits until they walk in the polling place to actually look at it and try and vote their ballot, it's going to take them a long time,” said St. Louis Republican elections director Gary Stoff.
St. Louis County and St. Charles County election officials are expecting about 75% turnout in the November general election. St. Louis officials are expecting 60% to 65% turnout.
St. Louis County Republican elections director Rick Stream noted that either in-person or mail absentee voting constituted 40% of the total turnout in 2020. That percentage is expected to go down, since the 2020 election occurred at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If we're only going to get 15% to 20% vote early, we're going to have a massive amount of people vote on Election Day, which is going to make for long lines,” Stream said. “That's why we're encouraging people to come out early in this two-week period.”
St. Louis County Democratic elections director Eric Fey said some people who have already voted absentee because they have an excuse have often taken 20 or 30 minutes to fill out their ballots. He’s recommending that people look over sample ballots so they know how they’re going to vote when they get to a polling place.
“If you don't want to be in line for a long time and be sitting in the voting booth for a long time, do your research on all the candidates and issues,” Fey said.
Early voting locations
The St. Louis Board of Elections will have eight locations for no excuse absentee voting:
- Buder Library, 4401 Hampton Ave.
- Carpenter Branch Library, 3309 S. Grand Ave.
- Divoll Library, 4234 N. Grand Blvd.
- Kingshighway Branch Library, 2260 S. Vandeventer Ave.
- Schlafly Library, 225 N. Euclid Ave.
- St. Louis City Election Board, 300 N. Tucker Blvd.
- Walnut Park Library, 5760 W. Florissant Ave.
- Wohl Center, 1515 N. Kingshighway Blvd.
Go to the St. Louis Board of Elections website to see the times when these locations will be open.
St. Louis County will have 14 satellite locations available. Go to its website for the times when they’ll be open.
- UMSL Millennium Student Center, 17 Arnold Grobman Drive, St. Louis 63121
- Lewis and Clark Branch Library, 9909 Lewis and Clark Blvd., St. Louis 63136
- Board of Elections, 725 Northwest Plaza Drive, St. Ann 63074
- Thornhill Branch Library, 12863 Willowyck Drive, St. Louis 63146
- Grand Glaize Branch Library, 1010 Meramec Station Road, Ballwin 63021
- Clark Family Branch Library, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis 63131
- North County Recreation Complex, 2577 Redman Road, St. Louis 63136
- Jamestown Bluffs Branch Library, 4153 N. Hwy. 67, Florissant 63034
- Mid-County Branch Library, 7821 Maryland Ave., St. Louis 63105
- Oakbend Branch Library, 842 S. Holmes Ave., St. Louis 63122
- Grant's View Branch Library, 9700 Musick Road, St. Louis 63123
- Cliff Cave Branch Library, 5430 Telegraph Road, St. Louis 63129
- Daniel Boone Branch Library, 300 Clarkson Road, Ballwin 63011
- Wildwood City Hall, 16860 Main St., Wildwood 63040
St. Charles County will have early voting sites at the following locations. Go to the St. Charles County Election Authority’s website to see the times when they’ll be open:
- St. Charles County Election Authority, 397 Turner Blvd., St. Peters 63376
- Element Church, 100 Mall Parkway #500, Wentzville 63385
Jefferson County will have early voting sites at the following locations. Go to the Jefferson County Clerk and Election Authority’s website to see the times and days they’ll be available:
- Jefferson County Administration Center, 729 Maple St., Hillsboro 63050
- Rickman Auditorium, 747 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold 63010
- New Hope Fellowship, 5919 Antire Road, High Ridge 63049
- Hillsboro Civic Club, 10349 Business 21, Hillsboro 63050
For more election information, visit St. Louis Public Radio's voter guide.
