Flickr via eschipul
Tuesday is Missouri's highly anticipated midterm election.
Election Day in Missouri kicked off Tuesday with long lines at polling locations across the region, with many lining up before 6 a.m. to cast their votes in one of the county's most highly anticipated Senate races, as well as to weigh in on medical marijuana legalization, a new budget for roads, a minimum wage increase, and more. (For more information, see our ballot guide, as well as breakdown of medical marijuana initiatives.)
Important to one of these races—the Senate, a showdown between incumbent Claire McCaskill and Missouri's Attorney General Josh Hawley—is whether or not either can capture enough votes in St. Louis County, which comprises nearly 1 in 5 voters in the state. Another county not to be discounted? St. Charles, according to Professor Dave Robertson, the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ political science department chair. "Watch for that one," Robertson said. "It could be very, very close." In November 2016's general election, 88,238 voters picked Democrat Jason Kander for Senator; 103,946 chose Republican Roy Blunt. And fitting for a race that's just too close to call this year (poll numbers have been within the margin of error), the mood way out in St. Charles County and beyond was mixed Tuesday morning.
At the newly rebranded Waypoint Church in St. Charles (formerly the First Baptist Church Harvester), a man who wanted to be identified by first name only, Bill, said there wasn't one particular issue he was passionate about, but rather "the whole thing is important." (He admitted that "the judges I couldn't care less about—they're running unopposed.") Without stating who he had just cast his ballot for in the Missouri Senate race, Bill said: "About a month ago, I changed my mind about who I was voting for. I saw a debate, and one presented their side very well, articulately...and one less articulately."
Bill also voted against all the medical marijuana initiatives—state amendments 2 and 3, and Proposition C—saying: "I'd be for [medical marijuana] if it were in pill form, so a doctor could prescribe a dosage. I understand they do that in Europe. [Cannador is one such pill used in Europe.] Here, it's an excuse to smoke pot."
Out at the Wentzville Community Club, one voter wasn't as opaque about whom she might have voted for. “We have finally have a president worth something,” said Cheryl Hucker, indicating that she backed Trump's pick for the Senate, Josh Hawley.
The theme of transparency continued at the Chapel of the Lake in Lake St. Louis. Lewis Kimmel told St. Louis Magazine he voted straight-ticket Republican. Laura Hemmer, who brought her 6-year-old daughter, Ava, with her to the polls, said that "hopefully there will be some change. The way the country is going right now doesn't represent my values, and the only way to change it is to vote." Hemmer has been bringing Ava along to vote since she was a baby.
Lisa and Tom Schroer's son Nick Schroer is running for re-election as state representative in district 107. Their son assigned them to post up outside Chapel of the Lake with some of his campaign signs. They absentee voted in Florissant, where they live, so they could make it to Lake St. Louis by 6:30 a.m. "I'd like to see McCaskill finally fired," Lisa Schroer said. "She goes back and forth. She tells us the conservative crap she thinks we want to hear." Added Tom Schroer: "Then she goes back to Washington. She's Chuck Schumer's puppet."
