INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — In-person absentee voting for Jackson County residents, not including Kansas City, Missouri, will be held for the last time from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday.
Absentee voting requires that residents have a reason for voting absentee. Anyone who is 65 or older automatically qualifies because they are in an at-risk category for COVID-19.
Voters were lined up around the block to make their voices heard at the Absentee Voting Office on North Liberty Street in Independence.
Vickie Chinney-Smith was one of the folks waiting in line Saturday before voting closed at 12:30 p.m.
"This needs to be a priority," Chinney-Smith said. "You need to put this at the top of your list and get it done."
Curbside voting at 110 North Liberty Street is available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday only for immunocompromised voters and people with disabilities. Curbside voting also will be available Election Day for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 or who are quarantining because of the virus. That will be available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Absentee voter Robert Bigler said he is grateful to the Jackson County Election Board for the safety steps it has taken throughout the pandemic.
"There's a lot of moving parts, so I think that's a hard thing to handle," Bigler said.
Voters who requested a mail-in ballot and have not mailed it can go to the Independence Post Office on Lexington Street and ask the post office to 'hand cancel' their ballot envelope so that it goes directly into the Jackson County Election Board's post office box.
