Why are the queues so long at the polling stations?

On November 2, 2024By Littum

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – If you voted early in the 2024 election, there’s a chance you waited in a long line before casting your vote.

This raises a question that many ask: why are the queues at the polling stations so long?

The Democratic Director of St. Louis County Board of Elections Commissioner Eric Fey said that is due to the length of the vote.

Fey said that when planning for the election started at the beginning of the year, they knew there would be a lot of demand, but what they didn’t know was how long this year’s vote would be.

“So we knew the demand would be there. I’m not sure we expected this level of demand,” Fey said. “We doubled the number of locations. We put extra election workers in every location. So we knew the demand would be there for sure.”

Fey said the length of the ballot may be something the public or the Missouri General Assembly thinks about for the future.

“Does it make sense to put all these things on this ballot? I think what we’re asking the voters to do may border on the unreasonable, frankly, but it’s there now and we’re doing it,” he said.

Fey urges voters to take a look at the sample ballot before voting. He said it can help speed up the process.

You can find examples of ballots for town and county on the election board’s website.