Boone County clerk expects voter turnout to be higher than previous primary elections

Polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday for the August 2018 primary elections, and the Boone County Clerk expects a higher turnout than previous years.

Taylor Burks, Boone County Clerk, tweeted Monday night that absentee voting increased 21 percent for the 2018 primaries from the 2016 primaries, which had presidential candidates.

Burks said the last day for absentee voting ended with just under 2,000 ballots submitted.

Burks also said he expected a 36 percent voter turnout on election day, which is higher than previous primary elections.

In 2016, Boone County saw a 30.52 percent voter turnout for the August primaries. In 2014, voter turnout was 29.89 percent, and in 2012 it was 22.63 percent.

Columbia residents will see several items on their ballot for the 2018 August primary.

For voters registered to a party, they will see an item for the U.S. Senate seat, that Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill currently holds.

Seven people, including McCaskill, are running for the position as democratic candidates. Those include Carla Wright, John Hogan, Travis Gonzalez, David Faust, Angelica Earl and Leonard Steinman.

Eleven people are running for the U.S. Senate seat as republican candidates, including State Attorney General Josh Hawley. The other candidates are Courtland Sykes, Ken Patterson, Peter Pfeifer, Christina Smith, Fred Ryman, Tony Monetti, Bradley Krems, Austin Peterson, Kristi Nichols and Brian Hagg.

U.S. House of Representative District 4 is also on the ballot. Republican Vicky Hartzler currently holds the seat. Hartzler is running against John Webb as the republican candidates. Two democrats are running for the seat: Renee Hoagenson and Hallie Thompson. Two libertarians are running as well: Mark Bliss and Steven Koonse.

Voters in Columbia will also see two propositions on the ballot: Proposition A and Proposition 1.

A ‘yes’ vote for Prop A, also known as Right to Work, would make Missouri a Right to Work state and uphold what legislators passed while under former governor Eric Greitens. Under the law, if passed, a person wouldn’t have to join a labor union or pay union dues to be employed.

A ‘no’ vote for Prop A would essentially allow unions to work how they work currently and non-union members would still have to pay union fees to be employed.

Proposition 1 is for a water bond of $42.845 million for Columbia Water and Light. If passed, customers would see a rate increase of 11 percent over a 4-year span. By 2022, the average customer would pay an extra $2.71 a month.

The utility company says the money would go towards larger improvement projects.