ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Long lines have been leading to early voting frustrations in St. Charles County over the past week. Now those voters' voices are being heard. County officials say they're well aware of those concerns and took immediate action to address them. 5 On Your Side took a closer look at the early voting traffic congestion and questions the Director of Elections about what will happen from here.
It's a trip to vote early in St. Charles County.
"Busy and cars are backed up,” one voter said.
Leaving them forced to wait it out or leave.
"It's like one lane getting off the highway on to the outer road…They could use easier access,” another voter added.
It's a fact not lost on the county's elections director.
"Turner Boulevard is one way in and one way out… What we have is these large trucks trying to do their deliveries and all of these voters trying to get to the Election Authority,” said Director of Elections Kurt Bahr.
He said growing awareness about no excuse early voting led to an influx of voters coming to the Election Authority.
"More than you expected?” 5 On Your Side asked.
“More than (I expected) in these last 2 weeks,” he replied.
Adding to the traffic backlog: more people wanting to vote curbside.
"We've had so many more voters ask for accessible curbside voting than we’ve ever seen in previous elections, including 2020 when we were dealing with the pandemic,” Bahr said.
He knew he needed a fix. Now, St. Charles County is offering a shuttle van so early voters can park at a nearby church and catch a ride to the voting box. A new traffic team is helping early voters navigate getting in and out. At the county's second early voting location, Element Church, there will now be an extra day of early voting. It isn't usually open the Monday before Election Day. Now, it will be.
“Are two polling locations enough?” 5 On Your Side asked Bahr.
“Two polling locations have been enough up until Tuesday… You can't change at a drop of a hat. You can't just say, 'Oh we’re going to open this,' 'we’re going to do this'. It requires a certain level of staffing, of resources. It takes a while to purchase the machines and the equipment that we need to be able to adequately and correctly staff another location,” he replied.
"It took about half hour,” a voter said.
In the past 5 years, St. Charles County has seen an increase of 26,000 more registered voters. It recently reached the mark of 300,000 voters across the county.
Bahr said this year's early voting turnout shed light on changes that may need to be implemented to make things a bit smoother in the years to come. He said he will ask the county for more funding to allow for additional staffing, more ballot printers, and possibly a third early early voting location in the near future.