Democratic and Republican county headquarters see rise in voter participation
By Chris Fortune
With just over a month to go until Election Day, volunteers at the Buchanan County Democratic and Republican offices say they are seeing a rise in voter enthusiasm.
Buchanan County voters are taking to their local party headquarters to buy signs and express their views on the presidential election and Amendment 3, Missouri’s abortion rights amendment.
Amendment 3 became one of the most pressing issues for Democrats and Republicans after the Missouri Supreme Court decided it would be on the Nov. 5 ballot in the general election.
A member of the Buchanan County Democratic Central Committee said there is plenty of optimism in the upcoming election.
“They’re so excited to have had the success of putting the women’s reproductive rights Amendment 3 on the ballot,” Whitney Lanning said.
The chair of the Buchanan County Republican Central Committee said they are encouraging a “no” vote on the issue.
“If it’s passed, it gets into the state constitution of Missouri, and we don’t want that to happen,” Steven Greiert said.
Voters will also cast their vote for their preferred presidential candidate on Nov. 5. The Buchanan County Democratic Central Committee has volunteers making phone calls and canvassing.
“We’ve had events where we’re watching the presidential debate and, you know, have events coming up to watch the vice presidential debate,” Lanning said.
Greiert spends some of his time helping visitors at the Republican Central Committee understand which state representative they are voting for by asking which area of the county they live in.
“We tell them, ‘This is the person who’s a state rep who’s running as a Republican — that’s the person you need to support,’” he said.
County Republicans have picked up hundreds of yard signs from the Republican Central Committee, mostly for Donald Trump and Amendment 3.
“I went down to Clay County to get some a few weeks ago, and they’re out down there now, and so I’m still trying to find more,” Greiert said. “So that is probably the highest demand right now, other than the Trump sign.”
Lanning said the Democratic Central Committee has run out of signs several times on the same issues of Amendment 3 and the presidential election.
“We put in orders of 200 at a time,” she said. “And so, we just got our ‘yes on three’ signs restored. We just got another order of 200 Harris-Walz signs.”
The Buchanan County Democrats office at 520 Francis St. is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and they will be open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Buchanan County Republican Party headquarters at 1307 Village Dr. is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. From Tuesday to Thursday, they are also open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and they are open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
