Voting in the April 6 municipal election will seem like a throwback.
“It will definitely be a lot different than it was in November,” County Clerk Ken Waller said. “It will look a lot different than even August.”
And certainly it will look different than it did in June, when the municipal elections originally scheduled for April were finally held, delayed because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19. No such shuffling is anticipated in 2021.
Last year, no-excuse-needed mail-in ballots and an expanded array of reasons to cast absentee ballots were offered to allow those who were reticent about showing up at the polls on Election Day in the midst of a pandemic to exercise their right to vote. Those, however, will be gone in April.
“Those measures were put in place by the Missouri Legislature because of COVID,” Waller said. “They expired on Dec. 31, and the Legislature didn’t act to restore them in the early weeks of this year’s session.”
Also gone are the satellite polling stations set up in Arnold and High Ridge that allowed voters from anywhere in the county to cast an early ballot.
“That was to accommodate an anticipated high turnout for the presidential race in November. We’re not expecting near that kind of turnout this time around,” he said.
November’s election, which featured the presidential race at the top of the ballot, attracted a countywide turnout of 73.6 percent of registered voters casting a ballot in one fashion or another.
Waller said he and his staff are expecting a voter turnout approaching 15 percent on April 6.
“I really think it should be 10 to 12 percent,” he said.
Last year’s municipal election held in June saw 11.67 percent of voters cast ballots.
The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot through the County Clerk’s Office for the upcoming election is March 24. For information, call the office at 636-797-5486.
There will be no COVID-related reasons accepted for absentee voting in this election.
“We’re going back to how it was before,” Waller said.
Reasons that voters may cast absentee ballots include an expected absence from the area on Election Day, illness or disability (or caregivers for those people), members of the military and religious belief. Poll workers also may request absentee ballots.
Those voting absentee may mail it in or go to the County Clerk’s Office in the Jefferson County Administration Center, 729 Maple St., in Hillsboro during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays).
“We also will be open the Saturday before the election (April 3) from 8 a.m. to noon,” Waller said.
For those mailing in their absentee ballots, most of the time, a notary’s signature will be required (military voters and those permanently disabled or their caregivers are exempt).
Waller said those going to the polls to cast a ballot in person – perhaps for the first time since the pandemic started – need not worry.
“All the procedures we put in place last year, we’re still doing,” Waller said. “We’re strongly encouraging our election poll workers to wear masks. We can’t require that unless the county government or the Health Department, or both, have a true mask mandate in place, but I believe the great majority of them will wear masks. We’re still going to use the Plexiglas shields between the voters and the workers. We’re still going to be cleaning and wiping everything the voter touches down frequently. We’re going to try to make this as safe of an experience for everyone concerned.”