ELECTION UPDATES: Biden dominates Mid-Missouri primary votes
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
UPDATE 10:10 P.M.: Final Boone County numbers are in for the presidential primary.
Joe Biden's sweep in Mid-Missouri counties held true in Boone County, where he beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 13,765-12,518. Biden took about 50 percent of the Democratic vote. The only other Democrat still in the race, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, received 265 votes -- less than Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Biden and Sanders had been in a close contest in Boone County for most of the night, but Biden outpaced his rival as the final precincts were counted.
Biden gave a victory speech in Philadelphia just before 10 p.m. Video of the speech is available below.
In Boone County, 6,984 Republican voters cast votes for President Donald Trump.
Full results are available at this link.
UPDATE 9:20 P.M.: Joe Biden continues to win Mid-Missouri counties, reflecting his statewide triumph in Tuesday's presidential primary.
Biden received 2,137 votes in Callaway County compared to 1,099 for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 96 percent of precincts reporting. Biden also won in Audrain, Camden, Chariton, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Maries, Miller, Moniteau, Montgomery, Morgan, Osage and Randolph.
Full results for the state and Mid-Missouri counties are at this link.
UPDATE 8:55 P.M.: Full results are in for Cooper County, where Joe Biden also won big.
Biden drew 833 votes in Cooper compared to 368 for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The vote reflected the result across Missouri and in other states Tuesday, as Biden solidified the lead he built on Super Tuesday last week.
As in Cole County, more Republican voters cast ballots for President Donald Trump in Cooper County than Democrats who cast ballots for Biden.
The first full precinct has been counted in Boone County, where Sanders led Biden 2,973-2,938 with one precinct, absentees and ballots cast at universal polling places counted.
UPDATE 8:40 P.M.: Joe Biden easily won Cole County, nearly doubling the number of votes won by his closest competitor, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Biden received 4,504 votes in Cole County in Tuesday's presidential preference primary compared to 2,385 for Sanders. More Republican voters cast ballots for President Donald Trump than Democratic voters did for Biden -- Trump took 4,563 votes in Cole County.
UPDATE 8:25 P.M.: Joe Biden easily took Miller County on Tuesday.
With all the county's results tabulated, Biden drew 672 votes compared to 322 for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
President Donald Trump drew far more votes on the Republican ballot than any contender on the Democratic ballot. In Miller County, 2,033 votes were cast for Trump.
UPDATE 8:15 P.M.: Joe Biden has added Moniteau County to the list of Mid-Missouri counties where he dominated Tuesday.
Biden drew 474 votes compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders' 252 votes with about 92 percent of precincts reporting.
Full results will be posted at this link throughout the night.
UPDATE 8:10 P.M.: Joe Biden has won Michigan’s Democratic primary, seizing a key battleground state that helped propel Bernie Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago, The Associated Press reports.
The former vice president's victory in Michigan on Tuesday, as well as Missouri and Mississippi, dealt a serious blow to Sanders, who is urgently seeking to jump-start his flagging campaign.
Sanders could still get a boost later in the night in Idaho, North Dakota or Washington state. But fewer delegates were at stake than in Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan, where Biden's decisive performance again showed his strength with working-class voters and African Americans, who are vital to winning the Democratic nomination.
UPDATE 8 P.M.: Joe Biden is also dominating early votes in Callaway County.
With a quarter of precincts in Biden had 654 votes compared to 387 for Sen. Bernie Sanders. Among candidates who have dropped out of the race, Mike Bloomberg took the most votes with 42.
Updated results for all Mid-Missouri counties are available at this link.
UPDATE 7:50 P.M.: With about a third of precincts counted Joe Biden has retained his lead among Cole County voters.
Biden drew 1,587 of those votes, compared to 931 for Bernie Sanders. More than 1,600 Republican voters cast ballots for President Donald Trump.
CNN has now called Missouri for Biden.
UPDATE 7:40 P.M.: The Boone County Clerk's Office reported turnout at about 29 percent on Tuesday.
About 1,500 absentee ballots were cast in Boone County -- 1,158 of them were Democratic ballots. Joe Biden had a large lead among those voters, with 459 votes compared to 322 for Bernie Sanders.
Several candidates who have withdrawn from the race also drew votes, including 104 for Michael Bloomberg, 49 for Pete Buttigieg and 142 for Elizabeth Warren.
UPDATE 7:20 P.M.: Joe Biden dominated absentee voting in Cole County.
Among 440 Democratic ballots cast, Biden got 194 votes. The next closest was Bernie Sanders with 76 votes.
On the Republican ballot, President Donald Trump earned 334 of the 365 absentee votes cast.
UPDATE 7:05 P.M.: Joe Biden has delivered decisive wins in Missouri and Mississippi, dealing an early blow to Bernie Sanders on a night when six states were up for grabs, The Associated Press reports.
Both men were focused intensely on Michigan, Tuesday's biggest prize. That's where the Vermont senator scored an upset that lent much-needed credibility to his 2016 primary challenge of Hillary Clinton. It's also where President Donald Trump's victory four years was so narrow that Democrats are desperate to show they have the strength to flip it back.
Beyond Michigan, Sanders could get a boost in Idaho, North Dakota or Washington state. Polls there haven't yet closed.
CNN has not called Missouri but has called Mississippi for Biden.
UPDATE 5 P.M.: Voters in Missouri’s Democratic primary ranked health care as the most important issue facing the country, well above climate change, the economy, race relations, foreign policy and many other social issues, The Associated Press reported.
That’s according to a wide-ranging AP VoteCast survey of the Democratic primary electorate in Missouri. VoteCast also found voters in Missouri’s Democratic primary were somewhat more likely to say they wanted a candidate who would bring fundamental change to Washington over one who would restore the political system to how it was before Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
UPDATE 2:25 P.M.: The Boone County Clerk's Office reports turnout is now at 17 percent. Polls close at 7 p.m.
UPDATE 1:50 P.M.: Early afternoon presidential primary turnout numbers are in for Boone and Cole counties.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said a little after 1 p.m. that turnout was at about 14 percent. Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer said turnout there could be as high as 20 percent but he didn't have a solid number.
Several hours remain to vote -- polls in Missouri close at 7 p.m.
The Associated Press reported problems at St. Louis County polling places.
St. Louis County elections officials said Tuesday that problems with electronic poll books meant that ballots could not be printed at some of its 400 polling sites. Election Director Rick Stream says the problem was compounded when some poll workers failed to switch to a manual system to print out ballots. He says some people left to go to work without voting.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says he also struggled to vote Tuesday. He said it turned out that his name had been entered incorrectly.
Some issues had been reported in Mid-Missouri, as well.
Both counties said Tuesday morning that the problem has affected about six voters each and they are not turning any voters away. Osage County Clerk Nicci Kammerich said voters experiencing the issue were able to vote using a provisional ballot.
ORIGINAL: Missouri voters will head to the polls for the Presidential Preference Primary Election on Tuesday.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. statewide.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said her office is expecting comparable voter turnout to the April 2016 election.
"We're hoping for about 55 percent and that's what we're prepared for," Lennon said.
She said there are also specific times that could make voting easier.
"Our busiest times are always before and after work, so throughout the day is usually a little calmer," Lennon said.
Lennon said when heading to the polls it's important to remember a form of ID like a driver's license, student ID card or the voter ID card that was sent in the mail.
Missouri is one of six states headed to the polls. Presidential hopefuls are vying for another 352 delegates.
Check back with ABC 17 News throughout the day for election results.
