Maplewood, Mo (Brett Blume) -- UPDATED at 11:08AM: Voter turnout is light in St. Louis city and county today, with some minor glitches reported.
In Maplewood, one of the municipalities where voters are holding a special election to replace Rep. Steve Brown, one of four voting machines at city hall was malfunctioning.
Election judges also had to force open a door to let balloting begin at 6 o'clock because it was on a timer set to open at 8 am.
Our earlier story:
St. Louis County elections judge Joe Goeke is predicting a turnout no greater than 20-percent today, despite relatively good weather and some important issues to be decided.
"The one-tenth of a cent sales tax increase for emergency communications, E911, is on the ballot, and the [partial] St. Louis County smoking ban is on the ballot," Goeke said. Passage of the County smoking ban is expected to trigger a similar restriction on smoking in St. Louis City. Additionally, there are six cities with some propositions on the ballot, including Kirkwood's own version of a smoking ban.
Also up for grabs is the mid-county county Missouri state house seat left vacant by Steve Brown. The Clayton Democrat resigned over the summer, after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice, in connection with misleading election authorites while working for the 2004 congressional campaign of Jeff Smith.
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