Polls opened at 6 a.m. in Columbia for the 2016 presidential primary election, and students and residents showed up at locations around the city to cast their ballots.
COMO Connect provided free rides for the day. Voters didn’t report any lines at polling locations.
The day’s primary was a significant one, as runner-up candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, struggled to stay viable against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump, who are both leading in the delegate race. The Missouri primaries were too close to call, with Clinton and Trump each leading by less than 2,000 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting, [per the Missouri Secretary of State’s website.](http://enr.sos.mo.gov/EnrNet/)
Sanders [told the Associated Press](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_2016_ELECTION_MISSOURI?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-17-18-06-52) Thursday he would not be requesting a recount in Missouri.
Ultimately, [Boone County](https://www.showmeboone.com/clerk/ElectionResults/20160315.htm) voted for Sanders (61 percent to Clinton’s 39) and Cruz (44 percent to Trump’s 31).
Columbia voters also passed Proposition 1, which bans the city from considering implementing roll carts for at least six months.
Many of MU’s student organizations spoke out to encourage students to vote in the primary election.
There's still time left! Find your polling place here and go vote! https://t.co/vHPwFfkNPc
— M.S.A. (@MSAmizzou) March 15, 2016
Don't forget to go out and vote tigers! There's still time!
— RHA Mizzou (@RHAMizzou) March 15, 2016
Mizzou! Tweet a picture of you and your best "Just Voted" face to @ASUMMizzou for a chance to win ASUM merch! pic.twitter.com/TBNrEhp1KS
— ASUM Mizzou (@ASUMMizzou) March 15, 2016
Voters expressed many opinions and observations at the polls. Here are a collection of quotes from the day’s interviews:
**Morgan Griffin:** “There were a lot of people voting, but there wasn’t a line to sit down or anything. Yeah, I guess there were a lot of students (in the polling location).”
**Kyra McArthur:** “(I’m voting in the primary) to save the country from Trump. I think that there are a lot of issues with this election, and people really need to get out there and change stuff.”
**Emma Bryant:** “I’m definitely here for the social issues because I feel like there’s racism, xenophobia, sexism, I mean, you name it, there’s a whole bunch of shit going down. I think that this reflects our country’s past, and I feel like we need to stop it before we repeat the cycle of racism in America, so that’s mainly why I’m here.”
**Anna Huffman:** (On rolling trash bins, which were banned under [Proposition 1](https://www.showmeboone.com/clerk/20160315a-Notice.pdf) on the same ballot) “Yeah, sure, why not. That seems fine. That seems absolutely not ridiculous at all.”
**Nick Boyd:** “I feel like if you want to complain about anything that’s going wrong in the country, you have to be participating in the government in order to have a right to complain when stuff is going wrong.”
_Kyra Haas contributed to this report._