Voters are heading to the polls across the country. One central polling location here in Greene County is just down the road from KSMU’s home on the Missouri State University campus. I visited Great Southern Bank arena midday to talk to voters and campaigners there.
Maddie and Avery, two MSU students, had just cast their first vote ever when I met them outside Great Southern Bank arena.
Avery: It was really exciting to go in there and feel like we're a part of something.
Maddie: Yeah, it was nice to actually get to do something.
I asked them what their hopes are for a year from now after this election is long over.
Avery: A good four years ahead of us. How about a good four years ahead of us.
Maddie: I hope I can be able to afford a house.
Hannah Moore was voting for the first time, too. She said things went smoothly and it made her feel important to be part of the process.
Hannah: I've never voted before and it was like a big, I don't know, it just feels like a big responsibility, but I feel good about it.
She was carrying a copy of the League of Women Voters election guide. I asked if she found it useful
Hannah: It was super useful. Yes, it was really convenient to just, like, check up on everyone. Even like I tried to do research before I came, but just checking up on everyone's names and just making sure that I knew who I was voting for was really convenient.
Allison Ausrichter is not a student any longer, but made use of the central polling location on campus. She said it was convenient. She was in and out in less than 30 minutes but she said this is the first election where she hasn't felt super passionate about any of the issues.
Allison: A lot of it was just, um, I could really go one way or the other, I guess.
Do you think? I don't know. Political ads, signs like these (outside polling locations) help or hurt?
Allison: I think they hurt. I was actually reading something because I was walking in, and I saw something about, like, gender affirming care for, like, child sex change surgery on three. And I don't think that's accurate. I don't think that's something that's in that bill.
Campaigns are hoping those signs have an impact though. I met Roger as he was carrying armloads of "No on 3" signs and posting them outside of the arena.
Roger: I'm going everywhere until I run out of signs.
I asked him how many signs he had, if it was enough to keep him busy.
Roger: Yeah, enough to keep me busy. And they were just sitting there, so I was like, yeah, it's not doing any good sitting there. For what I believe in at least.
He said he was thankful to see people out voting and hoping for a good turnout.
Jayden was the only other person out for a campaign. He was holding a sign for Jeremy Dean, who's running for the 132nd Missouri House district. Jayden said he helped knock doors and share literature for the campaign. Now the only thing left is talking with voters at the polls.
Jayden: People are out during the day and it's actually Election Day, there's not much to do. So, yeah, this is the most we can do to help, probably.
I also checked in with the Greene County Clerk's office midmorning.
Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller said about 13% of Greene County voters cast their ballot by nine this morning, just three hours after polls opened. That excludes absentee voter numbers. Overall, Schoeller said they expected about a 75% turnout today.
He explained: “Greene County normally votes close to that range in terms of back in 2016, we were just right under that at 69%. Then in 2020, when we counted only active registered voters that percentage went a little bit higher, closer to 85%. The total we're using today has active and inactive voters, and inactive voters are those whose addresses are not verified, but they can update them on Election Day. And so with that percentage, I think we'll be closer to 75%.”
As Schoeller mentioned. Inactive voters can update their information at the polls. Voters registered in Missouri can also do address changes at the polls.
Schoeller says voters should come prepared, study the ballot beforehand and bring the appropriate ID. At peak times and locations this morning, Schoeller said they saw up to an hour of wait time, but by and large, he said he'd seen small lines of 10 or 20 voters, much like what I saw at Great Southern Bank Arean when I visited.
Polls are open until 7 p.m. this evening.
City Utilities Transit in Springfield is running its normal routes with no fares to make it easier to vote today. The county also has five central polling locations where any Greene County voter can vote.
The CU Transit Center, the Great Southern Bank arena, the Greene County Election Center, Mercy Hospital and Coxhealth Medical Center South.
If you need help finding your polling location or finding additional election information, visit vote.greenecountymo.gov