The St. Louis City County line runs roughly 100 yards west of Skinker through the east of campus (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

On Tuesday, senior Tovi Blauser got to the polls at 6 a.m. to avoid the long line that would soon form inside the Field House. 

“I woke up at 6 a.m. and my roommate and I were planning on going to the voting center in the [Athletic Center], and we did [in the] pouring rain.” 

She waited in line for half an hour before she started hearing people around her say that the AC was a polling place for St. Louis County. After checking her registration, Blauser realized that she could not vote at the Field House on campus. 

“I just wasted so much time,” Blauser said, reflecting on the experience. “I specifically got here at 6 a.m. so that I wouldn’t have to wait hours upon hours in line. I was definitely frustrated.”

Blauser is one of many students who tried to vote on campus but could not because they are registered to vote in St. Louis City, not St. Louis County, where the Field House is located. Multiple students who were turned away at the Field House reported feeling stressed and confused. 

Most of those students who experienced this live in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood, which is right next to the city-county line that runs roughly 100 yards west of Skinker Boulevard. 

According to Otto Brown, the Civic Engagement Manager at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, many students are unaware of how the line can impact their ability to vote. 

He said that students should refer to the FAQs on the Gephardt Institute’s website, which includes a map that can help students determine where they live and are eligible to vote. 

“You can look at the line online, and it really bends and curves and squiggles and whatnot, and it runs a couple 100 yards west of the East End of campus,” Brown said. “People think of the dividing line as being Skinker, but it’s not.” 

Senior Annie Hindes said she woke up at 8 a.m. on election day, expecting to go vote at the Field House. When she saw an Instagram post that said only people in St. Louis County could do so, she quickly realized she had to register to vote in St. Louis City.

“I cried a lot [that morning] because I was freaking out and thought that I could not vote,” Hindes said.

Hindes currently lives in the Lofts, which straddle the city-county line. The line splits buildings and hallways, meaning that the individual unit a student lives in can impact where they are registered to vote. 

Hindes was planning on going to work, TA-ing for a class, and meeting with a professor on Tuesday. She had a limited window of time to vote. The change in where she was voting threw a wrench in those plans. 

“I had a very specific idea of how that voting experience was going to be and then it got messed up,” Hindes said. “I was under the impression that I was going to vote at a specific time and then I was very worried that I would not be able to.” 

She clarified that the change in voter location was “more of an emotional disruption than a time disruption,” because a friend helped her find a different polling place where she could vote later that day.

“As I was driving to work, I could not tell if the rain on the car was rain or my tears. It did not disrupt my time, but it completely freaked me out.” 

She said that before Election Day, she was under the impression that she could vote at the Field House because she was a student. Junior Drew Butzel, who moved to Waterman Boulevard and had voted at the Field House in a previous election, when he lived at a different address, was under the same impression. 

“I was like, ‘Okay, gonna vote there again,’ because that was what happened last time, and Waterman’s like two minutes from the school, so I assumed it’s in the same place,” he said.

Butzel was frustrated that he could not vote in the Field House and wished it had been communicated by the University. 

“I wish [this] could have been a little more apparent,” He said. “I feel like this is something that a lot of [people] will run into because a lot of people live in this area.” 

At 6 a.m. on election day, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Anna “Dr. G” Gonzalez emailed the student body encouraging students to vote in the election and research what is on the ballot. 

The email states that any St. Louis County voter may vote at the Athletic Complex, while those who live in St. Louis City can vote at the polling place in the McDonnell Medical Sciences building. 

Hindes wished that information about the city-county line was more readily available ahead of Election Day, especially for people who live in the Lofts, so that it would not impact people when they went to vote. 

“Honestly, I would prefer that they put out that information a lot earlier than the day before, and when they are sending out the voter registration emails that they are adding specific things, or even emailing all of the Lofts residents that you should check your registration because the Lofts are split.” 

Associate Director for Civic Engagement from the Gephardt Institute, Alannah Glickman, said that as undergraduates move throughout their four years at college, their polling place may also change. 

“It’s really common for undergraduates to move between the county and city line and not really know that you’re moving between voting jurisdictions because it’s all so close to campus, and campus straddles that line,” Glickman said.

Glickman also noted that this year the Gephardt Institute did a national voter registration training that involved tabling all over campus. The center also works with WashU Votes, a student-led group that has been tabling in the lead-up to the election and helping keep students informed about registration.   

Brown encouraged students to work with poll workers if they run into any confusion about the election process and expressed support for the work they do in maintaining election security. 

“The folks that do election administration understand that there are differences and that not everyone knows about [St. Louis] City versus [St. Louis] County,” Brown said. “Their real, honest-to-God hope [is] to be the most helpful folks that they can be on Election Day.”

His goal for the Gephardt Institute is to continue educating students and working to make sure that this impacts as few students as possible in future elections. 

Blauser acknowledged that overcoming her challenge in voting was not super difficult because she had easy access to transportation and extra time in her schedule.

“It wasn’t as big of a deal for me because I’m lucky enough to have a car and be able to change my plans, but I could really see how it would be a bigger issue for someone that didn’t have as much time as me this morning,” she said.

After her experience on Election Day and having to vote at a different polling place, Blauser is aware of how severe of an impact the lack of knowledge around the city-county line could have. 

“I mean, somebody might not have been able to vote if they were in a different situation as me,” she said.