ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The countdown is on!
We are less than three weeks away from Missouri's primary election on August 2.
Tuesday morning, the St. Louis County Board of Elections worked to reassure voters about security measures in place at the polls.
Rick Stream is the Republican Director of Elections and Eric Fey is the Democratic Director of Elections.
Both said safety is a priority.
"There are checks and balances in place, bipartisan teams are testing every piece of voting equipment. After every election, we have a hand recount where bipartisan teams sit down, choose certain precincts at random and they recount paper ballots by hand and matching machine count," Fey said.
Throughout the year, the voter equipment is chained off, with limited access from the outside.
With safety measures in place, the goal is to make sure all the information is protected internally.
"We do a lot of security checks throughout the year," Stream said. "We've done that in the last five years, so we make sure we can't be hacked easily."
Both also share, there is a new piece of legislation making its way to the polls.
"They will be required to present a photo ID when they vote, so a driver's license passport, military ID," Fey shares.
A student ID won't count.
HB 1878 will be signed into law on August 28, which means, this does not impact the August primary election. It will affect the November election.
"If they don't have one of those types of IDs, they can contact the Secretary of State's office who will help them obtain one," Fey said.
Stream said about 5% of people don't have an ID and looking at the 2020 numbers, that would equate close to 25,000 people.
This year it's bumping up the number of satellite sites for in-person absentee voting.
It's going from four sites to seven starting July 21.
The seven satellite sites will operate from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until July 29.
Extended hours will be available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 23 and July 30, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 1.
- North County Recreation Complex – 2577 Redman Road, St. Louis MO 63136
- Board of Elections – 725 Northwest Plaza Drive, St. Ann MO 63074
- UMSL Millennium Student Center – 17 Arnold Grobman Drive, Bellerive Acres MO 63121
- St. Louis County Library (Mid County Branch) – 7821 Maryland Avenue, Clayton MO 63105
- St. Louis County Library (Daniel Branch) – 300 Clarkson Road, Ellisville MO 63011
- STLCC Meramec Student Center – 11333 Big Bend Road, Kirkwood MO 63122
- St. Johns UCC Mehlville – 11333 St. Johns Church Road, Green Park MO 63123
Each satellite site will have a notary on staff.
The St. Louis County Library also has a notary at all 21 of their branches.
To cast an absentee ballot in the state of Missouri, you need to meet one of the six reasons:
- Absent from St. Louis County on Election Day
- Incapacitated or confined due to sickness or disability, including caring for a person who is incapacitated or confined due to sickness or disability
- Restricted by religious belief or practice
- Employed by an election authority
- Incarcerated, although all necessary qualifications for voting have been retained
- A participant in the Missouri Safe at Home program
However, with the new law, it does not require you to have an excuse to do an in-person absentee ballot.
But this won't kick in until after Aug. 28.
St. Louis County residents can also vote absentee by mail.
The application to request to have an absentee ballot mailed is available here and under “Absentee Ballot Application.”
The deadline for requesting a mailed ballot is Wednesday, July 20th at 5 p.m.
Completed absentee ballots should be mailed back to the Election Board no later than 7-10 days prior to Election Day.
As far as election day, St. Louis County voters can vote at any polling place.
For more information, visit this website or call 314-615-VOTE.