Missourians have a say in presidential race Tuesday

Missourians have a chance Tuesday to make their own statement in the 2016 presidential campaign. Tuesday is presidential primary day, and voters in the Show-Me State are going to the polls, along with those in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio.

While the media focuses only on four GOP and two Democratic candidates, there are actually 26 names on the Missouri ballot. Besides Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, running as Democrats are Henry Hewes, Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente, Keith Judd, Willie L. Wilson, Martin J. O'Malley, John Wolfe, and Jon Adams.

You no doubt know that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich are running as Republicans. Several on the GOP ballot have dropped out of the race, but their names are still there: Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckabee. Also on the ballot is Jim Lynch.

There are five Libertarians running in Missouri for president. They are Austin Peterson, Steven Elliott (Steve) Kerbel, Rhett Rosenquest Smith, Cecil Ince, and Marc Allan Feldman.

The weather looks good at this point, so Dunklin County Clerk Kent Hampton is expecting a good turnout. "My projection is 35 to 40 percent. There's a lot of concern out there, and hopefully they'll take it to the polls and take advantage of the opportunity we have to vote. Absentee ballots have been pretty high this year, so I think turnout will be very high."

Polling places in the county are: Glennonville Knights of Columbus Hall; Sunnyvale Church; Campbell Community Building; Malden Community Center; Clarkton City Hall; Holcomb Community Center; Kennett American Legion Building (city and Independence rural voters); Caruth United Methodist Church; Rives Fire Station; Hornersville Community Center; Senath Community Center; Arbyrd City Hall; and Cardwell Community Building.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

The Missouri Secretary of State's office is projecting 34 percent of registered voters will cast ballots statewide.

The Daily Dunklin Democrat will provide text alerts and website updates at dddnews.com on election night. Primary results will be found in Wednesday's print edition.