Seven-hour waits reported in Missouri city
VELDA CITY, Missouri (CNN) - Pollworkers failed to set up about half the number of available machines at the city hall polling station, slowing the process to a crawl, said a county elections board representative. Seven hour waits were reported late afternoon. Elections officials said the polling location was so small that the 14 workers on-site decided it would be too cramped if they set up all the machines.
Three touchscreens and two optical scanners had been set up to accommodate about 1,200 registered voters, while 4 additional optical scanners remained unpacked. By 4pm, election board director Judge Joseph Goeke had identified the problem and ordered that workers set up the remaining idle units.
The county elections board representative told CNN that wait times are back down to 2 hours at the site, and that all voters in line will be allowed to cast their ballots.
Wait times reach 4 to 6 hours in St. Louis area
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/04/art.st.louis.poll.jpg caption=" A long line of voters wait patiently outside their polling place to cast their ballots in St. Louis."]
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) - Long lines at polling stations across the city are no surprise, said officials at the St. Louis County Board of Elections. Callers into the CNN Voting Hotline reported waits of 4 to 6 hours in the northern suburbs of Jennings and Velda City.
The county's board of elections assistant director Dick Bauer said a lengthy ballot and what he expects to be a record turnout have slowed the process. Voters can make as many as 37 selections on the ballot today, and 10 of them are issue choices, said Bauer.
Voters in line at two polling locations in the suburb of Jennings have been experiencing waits of 4 hours or more, according to U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay. The congressman said both Jennings City Hall and Fairview Elementary were understaffed to handle the crowds.
K.C. registration books problem resolved
(CNN) KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Polling locations that had incorrect registration rolls in Kansas City's 5th Ward now have the right books, according to Laura Egerdal, Communications Director for Missouri's Secretary of State's Office. She said the county dispatched additional pollworkers to help with the backlog of voters and long lines.
When judges for six precincts in the fifth ward opened the first set of books this morning, they discovered that the cover jackets did not match the registration rolls, said Board of Elections director Shelley McThomas. The covers - indicating ward, precinct and sequence numbers - were mixed up when the books were originally assembled.
"They looked like the right books, but when the judges opened them this morning they discovered, no, these pages aren't the right pages", McThomas said. New books were printed on-site at the Board of Elections after the problem was discovered, and were delivered by deputies to anxious judges and voters in the fifth ward.
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