Working his last election as Cole County clerk, Marvin Register is predicting 34 percent of registered voters in the county will cast a ballot Tuesday.
"I'm basing that on the interest we've seen in the local races, but it's also based on what we've seen in past elections," he said. "For off-year November elections, we always run in the 30s. We have strong voters who go out there no matter what."
The lone election for statewide office has incumbent Republican Auditor Tom Schweich facing Libertarian Sean O'Toole and Constitution Candidate Rodney Farthin.
The 3rd District congressional race has incumbent Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer facing Democrat Courtney Denton and Libertarian Steven Hedrick.
The local races for state House and Senate include: Democrat Mollie Freebairn facing incumbent Republican Mike Kehoe in the Senate's 6th District; Democrat Gracia Backer running against incumbent Republican Travis Fitzwater in the House's 49th District race; and incumbent Republican Mike Bernskoetter facing Constitution candidate Michael Eberle in the House's 59th District.
There are three uncontested state House races: incumbent Republican Caleb Jones in the 50th District; incumbent Republican Jay Barnes in the 60th District; and incumbent Republican Tom Hurst in the 62nd District.
In Cole County, the contested races include the 19th Circuit Division 4 judge race between incumbent Democrat Pat Joyce and Republican Brian Stumpe. For county clerk, the race is between Democrat Susan Cook and Republican Steve Korsmeyer. In the race for recorder of deeds, incumbent Democrat Larry Rademan is facing Republican Ralph Bray. For county prosecutor, incumbent Republican Mark Richardson is challenged by Independent Anji Gandhi.
There are also several uncontested races: incumbent Republican Larry Vincent for county collector; incumbent Republican Dan Green for the 19th Circuit Division 2 judge's position; Republican Sam Bushman for presiding commissioner; incumbent Republican Tom Sodergren for associate circuit judge Division 3; Republican Kristen Berhorst for county auditor; and incumbent Republican Dawnel Davidson for circuit clerk.
Voters are also being asked whether or not Missouri Supreme Court Justices Laura Stith and Paul Wilson should be retained. They are also voting on whether to retain Judges Lisa Hardwick and Anthony Gabbert to the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
Also on the ballot are four proposed changes to the state's Constitution.
• Amendment 2 deals with what type of criminal background information would be admissible during the trial of those accused of committing sex crimes against juveniles.
• Amendment 3 would change how school districts determine whether a teacher is to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and/or given a raise.
• Amendment 6 would allow voters, other than those voting absentee, to cast a ballot prior to an election.
• Amendment 10 would change the governor's power to maintain a balanced budget by requiring the Legislature's approval any time the governor reduced the amount of money budgeted to a state agency.
Cole County patrons of the Jamestown C-1 School District are being asked to approve a tax levy for updates and improvements of facilities in the district.
As of Friday, around 1,200 absentee votes had been cast in the county clerk's office. Absentee voting will continue through 5 p.m. Monday in the clerk's office, located on the second floor of the courthouse annex.
Polls will open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m.
For a complete listing of area candidates, issues, voter registration and polling locations, check midmoelections.org.