Why are the lines at the polls so long?

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (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 are asking: Why are the lines at the polls so long?

St. Louis County Board of Elections Democratic Director Eric Fey said that's because of the length of the ballot.

Fey said when planning for the election began earlier this year, they knew there would be high demand, but they didn't know how long this year's ballot would last.

“So we knew the demand would be there. I’m not sure we expected this level of demand,” Fey said. “We have doubled the number of locations. We are providing additional poll workers at each location. So we knew the demand would definitely be there.”

Fey said ballot length may be something the public or the Missouri General Assembly would consider in the future.

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

Fey encourages voters to take a look at the sample ballot before voting. He said this could help speed up the process.

Sample ballot papers for the city and county can be found on the election board's website.

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