JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – More than four million voters are registered to vote in Tuesday’s election, but the Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said he doesn’t expect half of those voters to head to the polls.

Ashcroft said he compared the 2022 primary election to the 2018 primaries when only 25 percent of registered voters participated in the election. He said he hoped for a 30 percent voter turnout, but the numbers had continued to decrease over time.

“Sadly, I think it’s because most people look at the ballot and say there’s nobody on the ballot I like,” said Ashcroft.

Missouri’s top election officials said they prepared for a low voter turnout even though the Missouri U.S. Senate race is highly anticipated.

“People are concerned that this politician sounds great when they are running for office, but once they get in there they aren’t going to do what they say,” said Ashcroft.

There are 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats on the ballot for the U.S. Senate and Ashcroft said he expects other races to take longer to tally.

“I actually might think it may be one of our state senate races that really goes down to the wire because either state senate or state house it’s so competitive,” said Ashcroft.

There are no automatic recounts in Missouri, the candidates have to request it after votes are verified, but only if there’s a .5 percent or less difference in votes.

“Once that certification process has ended, that’s when the clock starts for the time for people to be allowed to request a recount or to dispute the vote totals,” said Ashcroft.

Ashcroft said he doesn’t think a recount will be needed as long as voters vote by 7 p.m. He said he expects unofficial results to be in between 11 p.m. and midnight.