Why Does St. Louis Keep Running Out of Ballots on Election Day?

The first rule of election day is to make sure voters can actually vote in the election. So, enough ballots need to be available for everyone who wants to vote. St. Louis county broke that cardinal rule during its municipal elections Tuesday. While the rest of the nation’s attention was focused on Wisconsin’s presidential primary, St. Louis county residents were unable to vote in 24 precincts because their polling places ran out of ballots—some as early as 8 a.m. St. Louis Public Radio reported that upwards of 35 locations in all had ballot shortages.

Voters were told to come back later when arriving at precincts without ballots. This understandably flustered many for whom that wasn’t an option, due to work or other obligations. Voter Tom Jennings told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his polling place “had ballots for the first five people that came in,” but “that was it after that.”