Voter turnout in Missouri is expected to be around 25 percent for next Tuesday’s party primaries, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
A turnout of 25 percent would be slightly higher than the 23 percent of Missouri voters who cast ballots in the 2010 primaries. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) says voter turnout is notoriously hard to predict.
“In fact, our office doesn’t even do it," Carnahan said. "We ask the local election officials, the 116 of them around the state, to give us their predictions, based on what is on those local ballots.”
The three main candidates in the GOP Senate Primary. From left: John Brunner, Sarah Steelman, Todd Akin
(via John Brunner for Senate; file photo; Wikimedia Commons/U.S. House of Representatives).
Most of the people gathered outside of Washington University’s Edison Theater before a recent GOP Senate Primary debate already knew who they were voting for.
But Shelby Hewerdine wasn’t sure yet.
So, she drove in from St. Charles to get a better feel for the character of each candidate.
“I don’t know how else people are going to look at it because they are very similar on the issues, so, we’ll see,” Hewerdine said.
And during the debate, the three main candidates laid out basically the same policy platform.
Republican congressman Todd Akin stopped off in Columbia Thursday in one of his last campaign rallies ahead of Tuesday's primary election that pits Akin against two other high-profile GOP candidates vying to challenge U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in November.
Gov. Jay Nixon is building a big bank account for his re-election campaign.Finance figures released Monday show Nixon raised $2.1 million from April through June and had $7.6 million in his account at the start of July.
Nixon's campaign said it was his strongest fundraising quarter this election cycle and that his bank account is twice as large as it was at a similar point in July 2008.
State House primary candidates for mid-Missouri's 44th and 47th Districts debated last night at a League of Women Voters forum at the Columbia Public Library. Among the hot topics: the federal health care law and how to maintain Missouri's aging highway system.
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill garnered some unwanted attention last year when she paid about $320,000 in overdue taxes and penalties on an airplane. As it turns out, her three leading Republican opponents also have paid penalties for late taxes.
The new 47th Missouri House district, which includes part of Boone County, may finally have a Republican nominee. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Mitch Richards was nominated by the Republican committee last night. He is the fourth nominee in less than one month. Richards is treasurer of the group Keep Columbia Free, and serves on the Citizens Police Review Board.
