Platte County seeing high number of absentee ballots

COLUMBUS - The Platte County Election Commission said it has seen a record-breaking number of absentee ballots submitted before election day this year.

Election Commissioner Connie Sebourn said her office scanned 6,200 of them last night.

It showed on Tuesday.  Polling sites at St. Luke's United Church of Christ and Platte County Agricultural Park both said they only had around 30 ballots submitted after being open for more than eight hours.

“It’s quite a bit slower," said Township A Precinct inspector Jill Owens.  "It’s the slowest election I’ve ever worked.

"We know that Platte County had quite a few absentee ballots come in and I think because of the virus, people chose to vote by mail rather than coming in person.”

The election commission encouraged more folks to vote by absentee ballot this year due to the pandemic.