St. Louis County, Missouri voters: Register, locate polling places and check ballots

St. Louis County administers local election services for the county’s residents, including voter registration assistance, polling place locations, absentee voting information and resources for candidates. The county’s Board of Elections in St. Ann operates a Polling Place and Sample Ballot Lookup that includes sample ballots, a Polling Place Lookup and Line Tracker, an Absentee Lookup and Line Tracker, Polling Place by District and a Redistricting Hub.

To be eligible to vote, one must be at least 18 years of age at the time of the election, a legal U.S. citizen, and a resident of the state where you are registering to vote. Missouri’s House Bill 1878 requires voters to present a valid state-issued photo ID at the polls; voters who need help obtaining ID can contact the Missouri Secretary of State’s voter ID help line at (866) 868-3245 or email showit2Vote@sos.mo.gov. For general voter ID questions, VoteRiders operates a helpline at 844-338-8743.

Missouri voters can register online through the Secretary of State’s voter registration portal, register in person at the St. Louis County Board of Elections office at 725 Northwest Plaza Dr., St. Ann, or print and mail a paper application requested via the county BOE website. The League of Women Voters notes a practical detail about the online form: “The touch screen on an iPad works.” Change of name or address can be done online or updated at the polls on Election Day, and Missouri voters may choose party affiliation but are not required to.

Registration deadlines follow a uniform schedule: online, mail and in-person registration must be completed by the fourth Wednesday prior to Election Day, usually 27 days before the election. If a voter moves within a voting jurisdiction, Vote411 explains they may go to their polling location, a central polling location, or the voting jurisdiction’s office to change their address and vote; if a voter moves into a new jurisdiction they must update their address and vote at that jurisdiction’s office.

Absentee and mail-in ballots are handled by the St. Louis County Board of Elections absentee division; request forms are available on the BOE website. Absentee contacts are phone 314-615-1833, fax 314-615-1998, and emails boecabsentee@stlouiscountymo.gov, nursinghomes@stlouiscountymo.gov and moabsentee@stlouiscountymo.gov. The county also offers Polling Place and Absentee Line Tracker tools through its mapping office; mapping contacts are phone 314-615-1929, fax 314-615-1999 and email BOECMapping@stlouiscountymo.gov.

On Election Day voters may bring a person at least 18 years old to assist marking a ballot; if no one is available two election officials, one Democrat and one Republican, can assist. Curbside voting is available for those who cannot enter the polling place - in St. Louis County follow posted signs or ask someone to alert a poll worker - and all polling places must provide wheelchair-accessible voting booths. If you cast a provisional ballot, “you will receive a stub from your provisional ballot envelope with instructions on how to verify that your provisional ballot is counted.”

To serve as an election judge in St. Louis County contact election staffing at 314-615-1865 or electionstaffing@stlouiscountymo.gov. A student election judge trainee program described in a St. Louis County, Minnesota source is specific to that Minnesota county and uses 218-area contacts; that MN program is not applicable to St. Louis County, Missouri without confirmation from the Missouri BOE.

Election Night Reporting in St. Louis County posts results as tabulation is reported, but “the results posted before certification are unofficial until certified by the County.” County BOE administrative contacts include general phone 314-615-1800, general email vote@stlouiscountymo.gov, voter registration email boecvoterregistration@stlouiscountymo.gov, and office hours Monday–Friday 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. The BOE office fax numbers include 314-615-1998 and 314-615-1999. One source lists an alternate BOE phone number, 314-615-8683, which conflicts with the 314-615-1800 listing; verify the current public phone line with the Board of Elections before relying on either number.

Additional help is available from the Missouri Secretary of State for online registration and voter ID assistance, and from the League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis for local district maps and voter guides. For immediate assistance contact the St. Louis County Board of Elections at 725 Northwest Plaza Dr., St. Ann, or the absentee and mapping contacts above, and confirm your polling place and sample ballot with the county BOE ahead of Election Day.