No-excuse absentee voting begins today.
This is the first presidential election that will include no-excuse absentee voting in Missouri.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said they had lines going out the door this morning when the office opened.
No-excuse absentee voting allows any registered voter to cast a ballot before in-person voting begins on election day.
Lennon said while no-excuse absentee ballots are cast prior to election day, they’ll still be counted the same way.
“So, the ballots are kept the exact same way they're kept on Election Day, which is that voters cast them directly into tabulators. Those tabulators retain the ballots themselves, as well as the results are kept on the USB stick,” Lennon said. "Then on election night, we are able to tabulate all of those and count all of those.”
Lennon said the Boone County Government Center is open Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but there are many other opportunities for Boone County voters to cast their ballots prior to election day.
“We have extended hours on Saturdays at different locations in Boone County,” Lennon said. “This coming Saturday, we’ll be at the Columbia Mall. On Sunday, we'll be at Douglas High School, and then the following week will be in Ashland and Centralia on November 2, that Saturday.”
Lennon adds all absentee and mail-in ballots are securely stored and will be counted with the ballots cast on Election Day, November 5th.
