KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Latest on the election in Missouri (all times local):
9:55 p.m.
Missouri voters have approved an extension of a sales tax that funds state parks, historic sites and conservation efforts.
The one-tenth cent parks, soil and water sales tax is written into the state constitution, and voters decide every decade whether to reauthorize it. Voters first approved the tax in 1984.
About three-quarters of the state parks system’s funding comes from the tax, and it also pays for soil and water conservation projects.
The state has approved $348 million in conservation grants since the tax was reapproved in 2006.
Officials say those projects have prevented more than 177 million tons of soil erosion into streams, rivers and lakes.
______
9:45 p.m.
Republican U.S. Rep. Billy Long has won a fourth term representing southwest Missouri’s 7th Congressional District.
Long defeated Democrat Genevieve Williams and Libertarian Benjamin Brixey in Tuesday’s election.
Long is 61. He was first was elected to Congress in 2010 to succeed Republican Roy Blunt, who was elected that year to the U.S. Senate. Long has been an auctioneer and businessman in the Springfield area.
____
9:40 p.m.
Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer has won a fifth term representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District.
Luetkemeyer on Tuesday defeated Democrat Kevin Miller, Libertarian Dan Hogan, Constitutional Party candidate Doanita Simmons and write in Harold Davis. The district stretches from the outer St. Louis suburbs to the Jefferson City area.
Luetkemeyer is 64. He previously served from 1999 to 2005 in the Missouri House. He was the state’s tourism director from 2006 through 2008 under then-Gov. Matt
____
9:35 p.m.
Republican Vicky Hartzler has won re-election to a fourth term in Congress for Missouri’s 4th District.
Hartzler defeated Democrat Gordon Christensen and Libertarian Mark Bliss in Tuesday’s election. The district stretches from Columbia in central Missouri west to the Kansas border.
Hartzler is 56. She was first elected to the House by defeating longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton in the 2010 election.
She served previously in the Missouri House from 1995 to 2001 and, before that, was a teacher.
______
9:35 p.m.
Republican U.S. Rep. Sam Graves has been re-elected in a northern Missouri congressional district that stretches from border to border.
Graves won a ninth term in the U.S. House on Tuesday by defeating Democrat David Blackwell and Libertarian Russ Monchil in the 6th Congressional District.
Graves is a 52-year-old farmer. He first was elected to Congress in 2000 after serving eight years in the Missouri Legislature.
______
9:30 p.m.
Republican Jason Smith has won a new term representing southeast Missouri in Congress.
Smith defeated Democrat Dave Cowell and Libertarian Jonathan Lee Shell in Tuesday’s general election.
The victory gives the 36-year-old Smith his second full term in Congress. He initially won a special election in June 2013 to succeed Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, who resigned for a private sector job.
Smith served seven years in the Missouri House, where he eventually became speaker pro tem, the No. 2 position in the chamber.
____
9:30 p.m.
Republican Donald Trump has carried Missouri, marking the fifth straight presidential election won by the GOP candidate in the Show-Me State.
Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on Tuesday.
Missouri was once considered a bellwether state in presidential politics. From 1904 through the 2004 election, Missouri sided with the winner every time but once, in 1956, when Democrat Adlai Stevenson carried Missouri in a race won by incumbent Republican Dwight Eisenhower.
But since 2000, Missouri has been carried by the Republican candidates: George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump this year.
___
9 p.m.
Republican Ann Wagner has won a third term in Congress representing suburban St. Louis.
The 54-year-old congresswoman defeated Democrat Bill Otto and Libertarian Jim Higgins on Tuesday. The district covers much of western and southern St. Louis County.
Wagner was first elected in 2012. She served as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush. She’s also a former Missouri Republican Party chairwoman and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee
_____
8:30 p.m.
Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay has won a ninth term representing St. Louis in the U.S. House.
Clay defeated Republican Steven Bailey and Libertarian Robb Cunningham in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday. The district includes much of St. Louis city and a portion of north St. Louis County.
Clay is 60. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2000, succeeding his father, William Clay, who retired after a 32-year career in Congress.
__
7:30 p.m.
The long wait at one Kansas City area polling location has dropped significantly.
Voters had been waiting about three and a half hours to cast ballots at Northland Cathedral Church in north Kansas City earlier Tuesday.
The church has five precincts voting there, and one of the precincts has the largest population and is voting in the smallest room with five booths. Election officials said the delays could also be attributed to heavy turnout and a lengthy ballot.
Patty Lamb, Republican director for the Clay County Election Board, said at about 7 p.m. that voters were waiting about an hour. She says they added poll workers and other equipment to help speed things along, and anyone who was in line by 7 p.m. will be able to vote.
___
6:50 p.m.
St. Louis has reported some issues with ballot boxes jamming.
Erv Switzer, chairman of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners for the city of St. Louis, says ballots were hand-collected at about a half-dozen polling places Tuesday after ballot boxes jammed and couldn’t be replaced.
The city has more than 100 polling places.
Switzer says the ballots that couldn’t be fed into the automatic machines, which then tabulates their results, were being kept in replacement boxes. He says a bipartisan team will transport the boxes of hand-collected ballots Tuesday evening in police vehicles to the Board of Election headquarters, where the ballots will be fed into automatic machines that will scan them and tabulate their results.
It’s unclear how many ballots are affected.
6:10 p.m.
Visitors are stopping by the St. Louis grave of a woman who fought for women’s right to vote more than a century ago.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports ( https://j.mp/2fBnRnz ) dozens of people visited Bellefontaine Cemetery to honor Virginia Minor, a Missouri suffragette. She’s considered the first woman in Missouri to suggest publicly that women should have the right to vote.
Minor tried to vote in 1872 but was denied. Minor’s husband filed a lawsuit on her behalf, but they lost that case.
Cemetery volunteer coordinator Daniel Fuller says the cemetery organized a public viewing of Minor’s grave on Election Day. One visitor left an American flag near a poster board filled with “I Voted” stickers and hand written messages thanking Minor.
Minor’s one of 20 suffragettes buried at the cemetery
____
4 p.m.
The long lines that formed before the polls opened in the Kansas City area continued at some locations well into the afternoon.
The Kansas City Star reports (https://j.mp/2fB9Oyv) that some voters had to wait up to three and a half hours late Tuesday afternoon to cast ballots at Northland Cathedral Church in north Kansas City.
The church has five precincts voting there, and one of the precincts has the largest population and is voting in the smallest room with five booths. Patty Evans, Democrat director for Clay County Election Board, says the delays could be attributed to heavy turnout and a very lengthy, two-sided ballot that takes time to read.
At least one other site in Kansas City was reporting about an hour wait in the afternoon. The polls close at 7 p.m.
___
9:30 a.m.
Voters are finding long lines around Missouri while turning out for an election that will reshape the state’s political landscape.
Missouri election officials had predicted record turnout even before voters began heading to the polls Tuesday.
In St. Louis, lines formed before dawn. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that some voters arrived an hour before the polls opened.
Across the state, The Kansas City Star reports unusually long lines in some areas. Fifty-six-year-old Jim Duff says the line he encountered at a south Kansas City church is the longest he’s ever experienced.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will remain open until 7 p.m. as voters make their choice for president, U.S. Senate, all eight congressional seats, five statewide offices and many other races, along with six statewide ballot measures.
___
7:20 a.m.
Hundreds of voters are lining up to cast ballots at a church in the northern Kansas City suburb of Liberty.
Thirty-seven-year-old Josh Lewis was among the first in line at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. He was casting his presidential vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson. Lewis says neither major party is taking the country in the “right direction.”
Sixty-one-year-old executive assistant Debbie Strange says she voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. After initially saying Clinton was the better of “two evils,” Strange reconsidered and said she voted for Clinton, not against Trump.
Polls are open until 7 p.m. and a large turnout is expected in an election that will reshape the state’s political landscape. Voters make their choice for president, U.S. Senate, all eight congressional seats, and many other races.
____
6 a.m.
Polls are now open across Missouri, and large turnout is expected in an election that will reshape the state’s political landscape.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will remain open until 7 p.m. as voters make their choice for president, U.S. Senate, all eight congressional seats, five statewide offices and many other races, along with six statewide ballot measures.
All five statewide offices will have new faces. Gov. Jay Nixon and Treasurer Clint Zweifel, both Democrats, are ineligible to run again due to term limits. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor. Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster is running for governor against Republican Eric Greitens. And Secretary of State Jason Kander gave up his seat to run for the Senate against incumbent Roy Blunt.
___
12:05 a.m.
Donald Trump is seeking to extend a lengthy Republican winning streak in Missouri’s presidential contest, and competitive races for governor and Senate also top the state’s ballot.
Most polls heading into Tuesday’s election show the New York businessman with a comfortable lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton, who is seeking to become the first Democrat to carry Missouri’s electoral votes since her husband in 1992 and 1996.
From 1904 through 2004, voters sided with the winning candidate every time but 1956, when they opted for Democrat Adlai Stevenson over Republican Dwight Eisenhower.
The state also has the nation’s most expensive gubernatorial race, pitting Republican former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens against Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.
GOP Sen. Roy Blunt faces a steep challenge from Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.