ST. LOUIS — It’s Election Day on both sides of the river, and many voters in both Missouri and Illinois will head to the polls on April 4 to cast their ballots.
5 On Your Side checked in with polling places across the Greater St. Louis area Tuesday. In both St. Louis and St. Louis County, election officials said voter turnout was slow, but there were no major issues.
“It’s been pretty smooth as far as issues, there haven’t been many issues across the city,” said Ben Borgmeyer, a director for the St. Louis Board of Elections.
But many voters are calling this a historic day for St. Louis City. That’s because they are electing a new Board of Alderman, with fourteen members instead of twenty-eight.
I think it’s a very important issue and a very important election for St. Louis City voters given the reduction of the Board of Alderman,” Borgmeyer said.
5 On Your Side’s political analyst Anita Manion also described this as historic.
“Not in modern history have we had so few Board of Alderman,” she said. “But we know the population in St. Louis City has shrunk.”
In St. Louis County, lots of voters are chatting about marijuana taxes, called “Proposition M” on most ballots. Dozens of cities and counties are voting on recreational marijuana taxes. The legalization of adult-use cannabis this year allowed cities and counties to tax it.
St. Louis County Board of Elections Director Eric Fey said even new issues like these haven’t seemed to impact voter turnout.
“It looks so far today, like the folks who normally come out during April elections are the folks coming out, and the folks who don’t normally come out, aren’t coming out so far,” he said.
Despite having tools like sample ballots ahead of elections, Fey said some voters are still surprised by some of what’s on their ballot.
“Quite often voters are expecting a couple of things on the ballot that they’ve heard about, like recreational marijuana or the school board,” he said. “But then they also forget things like the City Council or the Fire Board.”
Polls will remain open in Missouri and Illinois until 7 p.m. If you are in line before or by 7 p.m., you will still be allowed to vote, no matter how long the line might be.