Voters came to the polls in large numbers Tuesday, and one polling place - Taos - even ran short of one version of the ballot.
Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer had predicted a 55 percent voter turnout in the county, and the final tally was even higher at 63.2 percent turnout.
Korsmeyer said he was not surprised, given the amount of people he saw out to vote on Tuesday.
Polling stations have different ballot styles available depending on what races and issues voters in the precinct are eligible to vote in and on, based on what districts they live in. Korsmeyer said the Taos and Scott Station precincts had shortages of the No. 2 ballot.
He said the shortage did not change the process for voters, but they just had to wait to receive paper ballots that were hand-counted.
Taos turned in 74 such paper ballots, and Scott Station turned in 10. Korsmeyer said those hand-counted ballots will be included in the final, certified election results, along with provisional and military ballots.
Korsmeyer called the election successful, and said that there were also lots of address changes and forms he had to run out to polling stations - "I don't know how you can prepare for that."
Korsmeyer said there were voters lined up in places before polls opened Tuesday morning, and voters were lined up in places when polls closed in the evening.
There was a broad spectrum of candidates and issues on the ballot Tuesday that motivated voters to turn out, no matter their political persuasions.
For some voters, the day was about trying to solidify or check the power of a presidential administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.
"It turned into a referendum on Trump," Jonathan Owens, 21, said of Tuesday's election at the Masonic Lodge polling site.
James and Theresa Smith - husband and wife voters at the Missouri Electric Cooperative - said the country had become more divided since Trump's election two years ago.
The Smiths said they hoped they could make Congress and the Missouri General Assembly a more inclusive place for racial minorities and women.
They cast votes for incumbent Democratic Missouri U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who was being challenged by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley.
"It's about time that we give the ladies a fair shake," James said. "We have ladies that are just as smart as us guys."
Theresa said she believed during the past two years that the voices of citizens are not being heard by their representatives.
"I want to do what's right for the country," Theresa Smith said. "That's why I'm here."
Republican politicians' control of the federal executive and legislative branches under Trump also motivated voters at Concord Baptist Church who said they favored Republican candidates.
Mary Broughton said she voted to keep Nancy Pelosi out of power - that is, to keep the U.S. House controlled by Republicans. Pelosi, a Democrat from California, is the minority party leader in the House.
Dawna Huff said she always votes Republican and wanted to get "a red river flowing" - getting as many Democrats as possible out of office, especially at the state and national levels.
Pat Westermann also wanted to keep conservative politicians in power, especially at the state level, and she spoke favorably of Josh Hawley, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Pat's son, Chris Westermann, who also voted, spoke favorably of Trump and wanted to maintain what he said is a good economy.
"I like the way this country is going, and I'd like it to stay that way and keep progressing," Mary Wilde said at Capital City Christian Church.
"I'm a Republican, so I wanted to make sure that Republicans kept their seats or won seats," Judy Shipley said at the St. Joseph Cathedral polling station.
Still, Shipley said, "I did vote for a couple of Democrats who I feel would be very helpful and useful in local and state races."
"I don't think the current senator reflects my values," Curt Buschnot said of Claire McCaskill, adding that the Senate race she was in was the primary reason he came out to vote Tuesday at the Masonic Lodge.
Buschnot said he also voted against all three ballot measures that would legalize use of marijuana for medical purposes.
"If you believe the proponents," he said, "it's a treatment for everything. I don't believe in it."
"I just want it to be legal," first-time voter Elizabeth Chamberlain said of marijuana at the Masonic Lodge. "I voted 'yes' on all the marijuana ones," Chamberlain said of the three medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot Tuesday - knowing that if more than one passes, the one with the highest number of votes becomes law.
Two initiatives would change the Missouri Constitution. Either one of those would override the third, which only changes state law to decriminalize medical marijuana.
"I think medical marijuana should pass in Missouri," Patty Patten, 53, said at Capital City Christian Church, adding, "especially when people who are in chronic pain have difficulty obtaining legal prescriptions for painkillers nowadays."
The Smiths at the Missouri Electric Cooperative also said they supported medical marijuana. James Smith said he's a Vietnam War veteran and wants other veterans to have access to alternative forms of medicine.
"(Marijuana) can't be any worse than codeine, morphine and stuff like that," John Rucker said at the Electric Cooperative. He also supported legalization and primarily came out to vote for Ted Stewart, a Democrat in the race for Cole County recorder of deeds, and for Hawley. Stewart's opponent, Republican Judy Ridgeway, defeated current officeholder Ralph Bray in the primary election.
Doug Barding at St. Joseph Cathedral also thought the U.S. Senate race for Claire McCaskill's seat was significant, but added the medical marijuana issue was the most important thing on the ballot to him.
Elisa Arriago, another first-time voter at the Masonic Lodge, has a cousin who is very ill and may benefit from medical marijuana.
"The gas tax was the last one that I was pretty iffy about," Arriago said of another ballot question - Proposition D. "But, if we get better road conditions from it, it's worth a try."
"I hope Clean Missouri passes for ethics reform and fair districting in Missouri," Steve Doerhoff said at Capital City Christian Church of another issue on the ballot.
Stephanie Upton, a voter at The Linc, said the races for judges and prosecuting attorney in Cole County brought her out.
"I work in the legal field, and I know some of the candidates on both sides, so I kind of wanted to change, so that's why," Upton said.
Civics mixed with a bit of a party at The Linc for voters at Lincoln University, which was named a "Voter Friendly Campus."
"Lincoln was one of about 20 campuses to get the designation," LU political science professor Amy Gossett said. "There's only a handful that get it every year, which is pretty cool that we got it."
The Voter Friendly Campus designation program is a joint venture of the national Campus Vote Project and NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The national movement, Gossett said, is intended to get college students "mobilized and voting."
Gossett said The Young Invincibles - a group out of Washington, D.C. with the #VoteTogether Project - gave LU a $1,000 grant after Lincoln received the Voter Friendly Campus designation "to basically put the party on at the (polling) place. All I had to do was put together a campus plan and submit it, and we got the money."
There were tables with food, music and games outside The Linc, and a van that had signs saying "Rides to Poll" and "Go Vote" that were paid for by the grant. The van gave students rides from LU's student union to The Linc.
"It's so easy to register nowadays, comparatively, but there just has not been that second step to actually go vote. I think that young people, they feel particularly disconnected from the election process. So, I think people are realizing that we need to harvest that, moving the needle from 15 percent (turnout among college students) all the way to 80 percent (to match the registration rate)," Gossett said.
"It'll be interesting to see if this made a difference because this is the first time we've done it. It's also the first time we've had a big election at The Linc on campus, so it's exciting to have a polling place on campus as well," she added.