Absentee voters surged in Howell Co.

Howell County citizens turned out in record numbers for the 2024 general on November 5. While the registered voter percentage that participated remained nearly the same, hovering between 65-68 percent for the last eight years, where they filled out their ballots this year might surprise some. Over 26 percent of all votes in Howell County were absentee ballots, with the majority of those coming in during the two-week no excuse voting period that began on October 22. Howell County News spoke with County Clerk Kelly Waggoner on the impact this had on voting, her office, and possible future impacts. 

 

“It was non-stop. We broke our record. Every day, we broke a previous day's record,” Waggoner said on the number of people voting in person during the two-week period. “Friday and Monday, just before the election, we voted over 600 people in the office each day.” For anyone doing other county business at Howell County Office Building, located at 35 Court Square in West Plains, they would have seen people voting nearly all day. This made parking on and near the square difficult at times, especially as the election drew closer. 

 

Waggoner agreed that she had enough staff to help for this larger work load. “We did, only because my staff is large enough to handle that. Now, it didn't give us as much time through the day to prepare for the election. So, what we had to do is we did (election preparation) before we opened the doors and after we locked the doors. It made for some long nights and some very early mornings, long before the election.” She said that part of the learning curve there is that, during the next presidential election, she will have additional staff to help with no excuse voting. 

 

According to the preliminary elections results available on Nov. 5, 5,125 people voted by absentee ballot out of the 19,089 ballots turned in, or 26.85% of all ballots. This is a larger number than the two largest jurisdictions in the county combined, with Howell 5 having 1,734 ballots and Goldsberry having 1,495 ballots turned in. Presidential voting percentages were similar to the down ballot votes, with Republican candidates receiving 79-85% of the vote, Democrats receiving 14-18% of the vote, and third party candidates receiving less than 2% each. The county voted against all of the amendments and Prop. A at roughly 65% for each, with the exception of Amendment 7, the ranked choice voting ban passing with 76.66% in the county. Waggoner said the final number of absentee ballots will be higher than 5,125, as overseas ballots are received. By law, local election authorities are to transmit the certified election results to the secretary of state's office no later than the second Tuesday after the election, which will be Nov. 19 this year.