Missouri has only two weeks of early voting, and Ted and I wanted to vote early. We went on the second day and found ourselves in an unexpected traffic backup–something that has never happened to us when we’ve voted in the past. It took us at least 45 minutes to move 0.2 miles on I-70 to the exit ramp, and that was less than one-third of the distance we needed to go. Considering that when we eventually arrived at the Election Authority building, we’d have to find a parking place and then stand in line to vote, we decided to come back on another day when the crowds (hopefully) diminished a bit.

Since then, the local news reports have been filled with information about the large number of voters turning out for early voting and how backed-up the traffic and voter lines are in St. Charles County. One report informed us that St. Louis City has a smaller population than St. Charles County and has 8 early polling locations. St. Louis County has a larger population than St. Charles County and has 14 early polling locations. St. Charles County has 2–yes, 2–early polling sites, and both have traffic jams and voter lines that circle the buildings. After a few days, the news included information that more poll workers had been added to the sites, police traffic control was on-site to help with traffic, and an additional day of early voting–Monday, November 4–had been added. Even so, the traffic and voter lines on TV didn’t look any shorter than those shown in earlier reports.

When you’re a meteorologist (or married to one), lots of things are about the weather. We’ve been having absolutely gorgeous fall weather with much higher-than-normal temperatures in the upper 70s and upper 80s. A cold front was expected to bring severe storms last night with colder weather behind it–not to mention that today is Hallowe’en. (Note: the forecast “verified” in meteorological speak–we had severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings at 2:15 a.m. last night.) Ted and I figured that: (1) fewer people would want to stand in a long line surrounded by puddles in upper 50s/low 60s cloudy weather with nicer weather coming back tomorrow; and (2) lots of people wouldn’t want to be tied up at the polls late in the afternoon with trick-or-treaters expected after 5:00 p.m., so we picked today to vote. We came prepared with lawn chairs, extra jackets, water bottles, and snacks.

Sure enough, the line on I-70 was 0.1 mile shorter than last week, and we made faster forward progress. Not speedy; just faster than last week. We inched our way to the Election Authority building for 57 minutes before we parked the car, having traveled a whopping 0.75 miles in that time. On our way home, I took this picture of the traffic backup near the corner of the street that is home to the Election Authority building (left side of picture). On the right side of the photo, the line extends down the exit ramp and onto I-70. The Election Authority building is on a dead-end street, so there’s only one way to get there once you’re near that street, and the streets from the other two directions were also backed up.

We finally reached the Election Authority parking lot, and then it took another 5 minutes for a traffic guide to indicate where we should park and to inform us of the one-way route around the building to exit after voting.

After an hour of mostly idling the car, we were surprised to see that the line of voters wasn’t that long. This is what we expected–a line that went all the way around the building. (Photo credit to online news 3 three days ago.)

This is what we got. There were only about a dozen voters behind me when I took this picture. Where are all those people from all those cars??!!

It’s probably best not to be an undecided voter when you arrive at the polling place. Every candidate and every ballot issue has a sign and none of them really contributes to a decision-making process: “Vote for me!” “No, vote for me!” “Vote YES.” “Vote NO.”

It only took about 30 minutes to go through the line, check in, pick up a ballot, and vote. There were far fewer people inside the building than when Ted and I voted here in 2020 during the pandemic, and everything went very smoothly, with no disruptions. (I think the traffic cops held up the traffic to slow access to the building. In other words, I think we idled in the car in a traffic line instead of waiting outside the building in a people line.)

Based on my observations, the election site and the ballots are secure. The curbside voting and drop-off ballot boxes were staffed, guarded, and secure. It looks like St. Charles County will have a fair election. And, of course, the people here are what TV commentators have been calling “Midwest nice.” 🙂

We voted and headed for home. It took us only 18 minutes to drive the same distance that required nearly a full hour in the other direction.

When the political ads started playing on TV this evening, I wondered why they were still playing, since I’d already voted. Then I remembered that there are still four more days to vote: Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, November 5. Get out and vote!

P.S. We left the extra jackets, lawn chairs, and snacks in the car. Thanks to the crummy weather, traffic control, and extra poll workers, the voter line didn’t circle the building, so we reached the front of the line relatively quickly.