Upward Trend for Absentee Voting Due to Pandemic

As the election draws near, the requests for absentee ballots in St. Louis County continue to pile up, already doubling from 2016.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY – As the election draws near, the requests for absentee ballots in St. Louis County continue to pile up, already doubling from 2016.

So far in today’s numbers, there have been over 40,000 requests for absentee ballots in St. Louis County compared to the 2016 presidential election when there was about 16,000.

According to county clerk officials, this spike is due to COVID-19 and the safety concerns people have about voting in-person.

“The pandemic of course is a big factor I believe in the increased turnout,” said Phil Chapman, the deputy auditor for the clerk of county board/supervisor of elections. “People want to give their vote cast and do it safely where they don’t have to risk.”

There has been some confusion with voters, as other organizations have sent out absentee ballot applications. Some people have received four to five of the applications.

Election officials want voters to know that if they’ve already sent their initial applications in, they don’t have to send any additional forms out to the auditor’s office.

With whatever method the voter feels comfortable doing, voters are encouraged to vote whether it be absentee or in-person.

“We encourage people to get out to vote, we really don’t have a preference if they vote absentee or at their polling place,” said Chapman. From the auditor’s standpoint, we just encourage people to get out to vote with however they feel comfortable in doing that.”

Currently, it’s taking about a week to process requests to absentee ballots in St. Louis County.

For more information on how you can absentee vote in St. Louis County, click here.