Missouri voters head to polls for primary

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Voters in Kansas City's Northland say they've received "robo-calls" from the Rick Santorum campaign, but the calls talk about the vote in Colorado, rather than Missouri.

Despite that glitch a recent poll showed Santorum ahead of Mitt Romney in the state.

Missouri's presidential primary is grabbing headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

The $7 million election is being called a "beauty contest," "straw poll," or "public opinion survey." It doesn't count and that's why some voters are staying home.

Poll workers at the Second Presbyterian Church in Brookside say turnout Tuesday morning was about 50 percent of the norm.

Missouri's Secretary of State is expecting 23 percent of voters to vote state-wide. The Jackson County Election Board is expecting about 25 percent.

Some voters are frustrated over the $7 million price tag, funded through tax dollars. Others are concerned Missouri is losing its clout in this presidential race. Newt Gingrich didn't file in Missouri and voters won't have a chance to write him in. Mitt Romney is on the ballot but didn't spend any time campaigning in the Show-Me-State.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is the only GOP candidate to do any campaigning in Missouri. He was in Lee's Summit on Friday and will return for an election watch party Tuesday night in St. Charles.

Bunk Farrington is the former chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party.

He says $7 million is a lot of money, but “on the other hand it's an opportunity for the people of Missouri who want to voice their opinion about a Republican candidate to do it and that's a positive thing.”

On March 17, Missouri will hold a caucus and all 52 delegates will be awarded. That caucus was scheduled after the Republican National Committee issued a new rule only allowing a handful of states to hold their primary before March. Any state that held their contest before March 6 would lose half its delegates.

Missouri state law requires a primary in February and Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a bill to push it back.

“I think it’s unfortunate the governor vetoed it,” Farrington said. He calls the caucus system “rugged” and says it doesn’t represent the majority of voters.

Polls are open in Missouri on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters must have registered by Jan. 11.

To look up your polling location, visit http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/voterlookup/

For information on acceptable forms of identification needed to vote, visit http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/voterid/default.asp

Voters in Colorado and Minnesota are also weighing in Tuesday. For more on those states, visit http://bit.ly/xtZsS6