JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Thousands of Missourians who provide in-home care to the disabled or elderly soon will learn the outcome of a unionization drive.

The state was to begin counting votes Wednesday in an election on whether the Missouri Home Care Union should represent workers who help people with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, cooking and cleaning.

The new union is a joint venture of the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The unionization effort was made possible by a ballot measure approved last year by Missouri voters. That proposal created the Missouri Quality Homecare Council, under which personal care attendants can seek to organize as a collective bargaining unit.