Lawrence Co. voters break record with early voting numbers

Early in-person voting began in Missouri on Wednesday, Oct. 22, and in Lawrence County, thousands of registered voters took advantage of the early voting option to cast their ballots before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Voters wanting to cast their ballots early were able to do so at the County Clerk’s Office in the Historic Courthouse until around Friday, Nov. 1, when the voting was moved to the second floor of the courthouse.
An estimated 4,000 people voted in Lawrence County between Oct. 22 and Monday, Nov. 4.
“We are close to 4,000,” said Tammy Riebe, Lawrence County Clerk. “We probably were 200 this morning (on Nov. 4) maybe, and … we … hit 3,000 on Friday, (and) we voted another eight since then. We may not make it quite that much, but we’re probably going to hit 4,000 today. (It) depends on how the flow comes in.”
Riebe said the last time a large number of voters turned out for early voting was in the 2020 Presidential Election.
“The only time we would have had anywhere close to this, and it wasn’t even this much, was in 2020, when they had more reasons to come vote absentee,” Riebe said. “This is the first time in the state of Missouri that we’ve had No Excuse Absentee Voting two weeks prior, so that’s one reason we’re hitting records.”
As to why Lawrence County voters chose to vote early, Riebe said she could only speculate.
“I think they’re just wanting to get it out of the way,” she said. “It’s bad weather, they want to come here, or they … just don’t want to wait in line.”
As of the Aug. 9, 2024 Primary Election, there were 26,524 registered voters in Lawrence County. If 4,000 people voted early in this election, that would represent about 15 percent of the registered voters in the county.