Politics & Government

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: Campaigning on Election Day

Meet the South County residents who station themselves outside polling places in one final effort to campaign for their cause.

Do you care enough about anything on today's ballot to spend your Election Day stationed outside polling places, wrapped in your winter clothes and passing out fliers to voters?

At polling places across Mehlville, Oakville and Affton, Patch interviewed the men and women up at 5 a.m. and armed with pamphlets, coffee and muffins hoping to reach the voters in one final, last-ditch effort.

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Roger Splean, of Oakville, campaigned for , outside Point Elementary School.

"I tell them, 'Good morning. Jim Lembke would appreciate your vote,'" Splean said.

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But Splean's job isn't over when the voter returns from the poll. He thanks each one for turning out, despite which candidate they picked.

"It's none of my business who they vote for," he said. "I'll find our on the newspaper tomorrow or on TV tonight."

Most of the last-stop campaigners handed out fliers and business cards to voters, but Sue Grabowski said she's not sure that works anymore. Grabowski campaigned for Ed Martin, candidate for attorney general, early this morning at Affton White-Rogers Community Center.

"People have made up their mind by the time they get to here," she said. "The literature is not effective."

For Stacey Sifton, wife of state representative candidate Scott Sifton, said meeting voters at the polls is about more than just handing over information.

"Visibility is important," she said before hurrying over to greet voters at Affton High School.

Tom Henson, a retired Air Force veteran, drove all the way from Waterloo, IL, to campaign for Joe Zelle, a state representative candidate and Henson's brother-in-law.

"I believe in what he stands for," Henson said outside Point Elementary in Oakville. "He's lived here a long time.

For Ian Maupin, campaigning at the polls was the only way to get involved in the election. As a 16-year-old, he is still too young to vote, so he spend his morning stumping for .

"I know from experience how supportive he is of family values, pro life values, homeschooling, the military," said Maupin, who is home-schooled. "We made it a point to be here today.

"We've got to make a difference some way."


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