St. Louis County elections extended in 63 precincts after ballot shortages

[Sherman A1]

Updated as story develops: St. Louis County’s municipal elections got off to a rocky start on Tuesday, with many polling places quickly running out of ballots. An appeals court extended voting until 9 p.m., but the decision came late. Shortly after 5 p.m., Circuit Judge Maura B. McShane denied a request to extend voting. In a hand-written order, the presiding judge in the county said "the court denies petitioners' request and doesn't believe it has authority to extend the hours."

In an email, Eric Fey, Democratic director of the St. Louis County Board of Elections, said, "Any ballots cast after 7:00 pm as a result of the court order will not be counted tonight."

But a message on the board of elections website told of another problem:

“Unfortunately the writ was not issued until 7:30 p.m. after many of the polling locations were closed and secured. Attempts are being made to contact the locations in hopes of having them reopen, however, if voters are unable to access their polling location they should proceed to the board of elections office.”

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