Election officials in St. Charles County are putting more resources toward early voting, as turnout has doubled between two locations since 2020.
St. Charles County Elections Director Kurt Bahr said they’d planned for 2,500 voters each day across the county, which was the record high during the pandemic year. Since no-excuse absentee voting began on Oct. 22, there have been over 5,000 voters per day between the county’s main voting location at the Election Authority Office in St. Peters and its satellite location at Element Church in Wentzville.
Overall, more than 25,000 people have voted since no-excuse absentee voting began last week, compared to less than 9,300 during the prior four weeks of traditional absentee voting, election officials said in a statement.
To manage this, they added off-site parking at The Crossing at Mid Rivers as well as a shuttle bus for the St. Peters location, and increased staffing by 50% in Wentzville. Bahr said they’ve also improved curbside voting efficiency and addressed traffic issues in St. Peters — the St. Louis County Police Department has been assisting with traffic control.
“That was our biggest issue that we were having there,” Bahr said. “We also got more staff to be in the parking lot to just help with the overall traffic flow, allow voters to safely park and exit the parking lot, and to make sure that we could assist the voters who need accessible curbside voting.”
Curbside voting is not offered at the Wentzville location due to a lack of adequate staffing and parking, he added.
Despite initial concerns about long lines, wait times have been managed to about an hour at peak times. Bahr highlighted the need for better parking facilities and praised the efforts of election judges who volunteered additional hours to support early voting.
“Our parking situation is not ideal,” Bahr said Wednesday. “It's one thing that we had asked the county to fix, and that wasn't taken care of before this election. So we'll have a conversation again next year.”
On Monday, the main office saw 3,500 voters. Element Church in Wentzville isn’t typically open the Monday before Election Day, but it will be this year from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Bahr said.
There will be 104 polling locations available across the county on Nov. 5. To find your polling place and precinct, visit the St. Charles County website or the Missouri Secretary of State. Individuals can also contact the St. Charles Election Authority at 636-949-7550.
Voters waiting until Election Day to cast their ballots can do so at their assigned polling place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.
