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'I think on the 5th of November, it’ll be this long and longer': Early voters face long lines in Missouri

Election offices encourage voters to cast ballots early
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JaxCo Voters in Line.jpg

KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.

Voters in some parts of Missouri are seeing long lines to vote early in the presidential election.

On Monday and Tuesday, voters in Jackson County stood in lines for just under two hours.

"I think on the 5th of November, it'll be this long and longer," Dennis Acheson, a voter said explaining why he voted early. "You’re gonna get in line, might as well get in line now to get it done."

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Dennis Acheson

Election offices across the Kansas City area are encouraging voters to vote early. In person early voting began last week in Kansas and Monday in Missouri.

It’s up to each election office to decide how many early voting locations to open.

Jackson County appears to have the longest wait times this week. It has two early voting locations, one more than it offered in 2020.

"It’s a beautiful day, the sun’s out, the wind’s died down, so I don’t mind the wait too much," Theresa Brightwell said.

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Theresa Brightwell

Platte County has one early voting location. Clay County opened three. Kansas City’s election board, which serves the city limits within Jackson County, has six early voting locations.

"I haven’t ever voted early in the past, but I know this one is going to be right down to the wire, so I wanted to make sure I get my vote in," said Regina Humphrey, who waited one hour and 49 minutes in line outside a Jackson County Election Board office.

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Regina Humphrey

On the Kansas side,Johnson County opened 10 early voting sites during the week, with more open on weekends.

Wyandotte County has five early voting locations. Nearly 45,000 people have voted early in those two counties combined.