Online tools can help voters find polling places

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

After two years of the coronavirus pandemic, some voters might be ready to physically go back to the polls on Tuesday instead of casting an absentee ballot.

The Boone County Clerk's office has 42 spots ready for voters when they hit the polls tomorrow. Some of which might be different than voters' former polling places.

All voters can cast their ballot at the Boone County Government Center as a central polling place.

When casting their ballot tomorrow voters can expect a similar experience as last time.

Boone County Clerk, Brianna Lennon says, "We still have the Plexiglass dividers that are in-between the judges and voters to make sure there is social distancing."

The Boone County Clerk's office says there have been no changes made to polling locations within the past year but is encouraging voters to look ahead of time to know what their designated polling location is.

If you get to the wrong one Lennon says, "Polling place workers can tell you where your proper location is or you can look it up or you can call our office and we will tell you where to go."

Voters who get to a voting location at 7 p.m. will still have the chance to cast their ballot using a provisional ballot. That ballot will be evaluated to see if it qualifies or not.

When the county is tallying up the cotes the process is mostly don't electronically.

"When voters put their ballot into the machine, the paper ballot is ready by the voting tabulator and then all of those results that are tabulated are saved onto a memory stick," Lennon said.

When the polls close the county brings back the memory stick and the paper ballot to the Boone County Government Center and they are processed.

Lennon says, "They all get inputted into our election software which is not connected to the internet, it is all stand-alone."

Ballots are still counted weeks after the election is completed.

Lennon said, "Then we have this two-week process after the election where we actually do an audit of the paper ballots themselves and we do a hand count of the subset of those ballots that are randomly selected just to verify that was tabulated on election night is correct."

To find your polling location in Boone County voters can head to the county clerk's website.

Cole County will have 28 polling locations open Tuesday.

To find your correct voting location in Cole County go to the clerk's website.

Voters hitting the polls will need a key item to cast their vote Tuesday -- a valid ID. Options include a Missouri driver's or non-driver's license, U.S. passport, military ID or a Boone County Voter ID card.

A key race on the ballot in Boone County is the Columbia mayoral race. There are five candidates the ballot hoping to fill the position Mayor Brian Treece is leaving behind.

Also on the ballot is the Columbia Board of Education. There are four candidates running for the two open seats on the Columbia Board of Education: Suzette Waters, incumbent Blake Willoughby, Andrea Lisenby and Adam Matthew Burks.

The Jefferson City Board of Education also has a contested race. The running candidates are Adam Gresham, Marc Ellinger, Anne Bloemke-Warren and Erika Leonard.

Voters in Jefferson City will be deciding if they will allow the city to raise millions of dollars through bonds to update its sewage system. The bond issue is $44 million.

Polls will open Tuesday at 6 a.m and close at 7 p.m.