1:45 p.m.
Marian Velder, a 59-year-old woman from Liberty, Missouri, voted for Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley because she is “done” with Democrats.
“I have had it up to here,” said Velder, while putting her hand above her head. “I am never voting for a Democrat again.”
Velder said she once voted for Democrats but President Donald Trump has her eyes to an “undercurrent of liberalism” across the country. She said Democrats no longer stand for the idealism she believed in past decades.
Nicholas Bowers, of Liberty, said he voted for Democrat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in part because he was disappointed with how Hawley conducted himself since being elected state attorney general in 2016.
Bowers, 28, a worker for Ford Motor Co., said he was upset with the attorney general’s support of a right-to-work law and his “ridiculous” investigation into former Gov. Eric Greitens,’ who faced several scandals before he resigned in June.
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12:20 p.m.
Voters are experiencing some problems as they cast their ballots in Missouri.
The Kansas City Star reports that the power was out when voters arrived Tuesday at the Coves Clubhouse in northern Kansas City. Platte County Board of Elections director Wendy Flanigan says voters were able to continue voting during the outage. The ballots were submitted to an emergency compartment so they could be feed back into the reader when power was restored.
Clay County Board of Election Commissioners director Patty Lamb says there have been issues with some voter machines not working properly, but they have addressed the issue and everything was fixed.
In Jackson County, a ballot counter at the Lee’s Summit City Hall was down for about 20 minutes before a different machine was brought in.
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11:50 a.m.
Turnout appears strong as voters cast ballots in a tight race that will determine whether incumbent Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill can withstand a challenge from Republican Josh Hawley.
In south St. Louis, 37-year-old Amanda Cline waited almost an hour for a ballot. She told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it “almost feels like a presidential election.” She says its “good to see a lot of people.”
Outside Rock Bridge Christian Church in Columbia, the line began forming before the doors opened. Poll volunteer Lisa Glass told the Columbia Missourian that it is the most voters she has ever seen.
Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller described the lines as steady. The Springfield News-Leader reports that by 10 a.m. Tuesday, 12 percent of all active voters in the county had cast their ballots.
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6:15 a.m.
Polls have opened in Missouri as voters cast ballots to decide whether to send Democrat Claire McCaskill back to the senate and approve ballot measures that would raise the minimum wage and allow medical marijuana.
McCaskill is running against Josh Hawley, the young challenger backed by President Donald Trump. Hawley, the 38-year-old, Ivy-league educated state attorney general, says the 65-year-old McCaskill is too liberal for Missouri. Trump won the state by 19 points in 2016.
McCaskill campaigned as a moderate and focused on health care issues. Republicans badly want to defeat McCaskill after she survived in 2012 when her opponent made a major gaffe.
Missouri voters also will face ballot measures Tuesday to raise the gas tax and a major change to drawing district boundaries after the 2020 census.
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10:03 p.m.
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill has survived near-political death before in the red state of Missouri.
Voters on Tuesday will decide whether to re-elect her over Josh Hawley, the young challenger backed by President Donald Trump.
Hawley, the 38-year-old, Ivy-league educated state attorney general, says the 65-year-old McCaskill is too liberal for Missouri. Trump won the state by 19 points in 2016.
McCaskill campaigned as a moderate and focused on health care issues.
Republicans badly want to defeat McCaskill after she survived in 2012 when her opponent made a major gaffe.
Missouri voters also will face several ballot measures including three separate proposals for medical marijuana, a measure to raise the minimum wage, one to raise the gas tax and a major change to drawing district boundaries after the 2020 census.
