Missouri Early Voting Surges Over Tax and Ballot Amendments

Missouri opened its early voting period on July 22, 2026, seeing a spike in turnout that suggests a high-interest primary. Local officials reported dramatic increases in activity, with St. Charles County seeing four times the volume of its first day of early voting in 2024 and Boone County reporting that first-day turnout more than doubled. In St. Louis County, approximately 7% of registered voters had cast ballots by midday Tuesday, while Greene County recorded over 1,000 ballots by midday Wednesday.

Governor Mike Kehoe placed two high-spending constitutional amendments on the primary ballot: Amendment 4, which modifies the majority requirement for initiative-proposed amendments, and Amendment 5, which proposes replacing the state personal income tax with expanded sales taxes. Campaigns for these measures have spent over $9.2 million on broadcast ads. The Governor's decision to place these on the primary ballot may be a strategic effort to shift the electorate's partisan makeup or protect the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly.

State Representative Rudy Veit expressed distrust in the provisions of Amendment 5. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is currently gathering data from local election authorities to provide a statewide turnout projection next week.