Problems at north St. Louis County polling places make national news. From CNN:

Voters in line at two polling locations in the suburb of Jennings have been experiencing waits of 4 hours or more, according to U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay. The congressman said both Jennings City Hall and Fairview Elementary were understaffed to handle the crowds.

“As we expected, the St. Louis County Board of Elections authority was ill-equipped and ill-prepared for the mass of humanity that showed up to exercise their constitutional right to vote today,” said Clay. He said two judges were in place at Fairview Elementary where upwards of 400 people were waiting in line to vote.

Judge Joseph Goeke, director of the Board of Elections, said Clay’s statement was incorrect, and that Fairview Elementary had 12 judges all day. He said the county was planning to add another two judges this afternoon. In response to Clay’s accusations that polls were ill-equipped and understaffed, Goeke said his plans for today’s elections exceeded requirements.

“We’re required to have one voting device for every 124 people, and I have one for every 108 or 109,” said Goeke. Goeke also said voters in St Louis County have 25% more equipment than he has ever deployed in an election.

[CORRECTED]

St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay is calling on all the elected officials in his district to come to a phone bank at his office Monday to call through St. Louis City’s and St. Louis County’s inactive voter list.

Clay is pushing for the “phone-a-thon” just one week before the voter registration window closes on October 8th.

The phone bank will be at Clay’s St. Louis City office, 625 N. Euclid Ave., Suite 404, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. All elected officials in the 1st Congressional District are encouraged to attend.

Count Congressman Lacy Clay among those that are having a tough time swallowing the idea of handing over $700,000,000,000 in taxpayer dollars to the already wealthiest people in America in the hopes of fixing a crisis that they created.

From Monday’s CQPolitics.com:

“I’m leaning hard against it,” said William Lacy Clay, D-Mo. “All the calls to my office seem to be opposed. People don’t think we should be bailing out Wall Street. They think we should help families that are being foreclosed.”

Read the full article here.

Congressman Lacy Clay welcomed the Missouri delegation to the Democratic National Convention this morning.

The following statement is from Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay on the sudden death of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio):

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic death of my friend, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

She will be remembered as a great legislator and a true fighter for the interests of her constituents.

The people of Cleveland have lost a champion, and I have lost a dear friend.

Mrs. Clay and I send our thoughts and prayers to her family and we pray that God will grant them strength and comfort to bear this heavy burden.”