Missouri voter turnout tops 3 million, with 70% turnout

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- More than 3 million Missouri voters cast ballots in Tuesday's presidential election, marking the first time the state exceeded that threshold.

Missouri's previous high mark was 2.9 million voters in the 2008 presidential election, which was won by Democrat Barack Obama. Since then, Missouri has added more than 100,000 voters to its rolls, for a total of 4.3 million registered voters.

About 70% of registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday's election. That fell shy of the 75% threshold that had been forecast by Missouri's local election officials. The voter turnout percentage peaked at 78% in the 1992 election, when there were significantly fewer registered voters.

The presidential race between Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden was the top vote-getter on this year's ballot, followed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson's contest against his Democratic challenger, state Auditor Nicole Galloway.