St. Charles County judge dismisses case to stop early voting

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. (First Warning 4) – A St. Charles County judge has dismissed a case seeking to halt early voting.

Earlier this weekTravis Heins, of St. Peters, filed a petition against St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr. In the petition, Heins argues that he should be able to participate as a poll worker during the early voting period because ballots are tabulated as voters enter their ballots into the tabulation machine.

State statute allows either party to appoint poll workers at polling places on Election Day. For absentee voting, poll workers and challengers are allowed at locations where those ballots are counted, such as the election authority.

Bahr also said that when voters place their ballots in tabulation machines, the ballots are tallied but not counted. Once the polls close on election night, the machines will be turned off, he said. At that point, the ballots are counted and tabulated and the information is returned to the election authority along with the paper ballots.

On Friday, the judge dismissed the case due to a procedural error, stating that it was not in line with what was required to file the case.