The deadline to register to vote in Missouri was Wednesday, and so far Jackson County has approved more than 228,000 people to vote. That is about 7,000 more than the final registration numbers for 2012.
One of the reasons for the increase is third party people getting others to register, including Israel Mendez, the owner of El Pueblito. He took his food truck to the streets to sell tacos and to get people to register to vote.
In all, Mendez got 28 people to register.
"Sometimes people procrastinating, they don’t get to do it. So I figured if we are selling tacos and have the people there they would just do it," said Mendez.
Also upping the ante is the presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
“We don’t have an incumbent, and of course both candidates have created a lot of interest," said Director of the Jackson County Election Board Tammy Brown.
Also adding to the large turnout in voter registration - the internet and social media. A box full of thousands of voter registration forms from online registration through the Missouri Secretary of State arrived at the Jackson County Election Board.
Part-time Jackson County Election Board workers have to make sure every registration form is time stamped, addresses are verified, and put into the system.
Brown is asking the public to be understanding if they do not see their registration information online yet. They have thousands to put into the system.
“We are really busy so be patient with us. Anybody that registered in the last two weeks we are working very diligently to get them on," said Brown.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
