Mo. presidential primary forecast: 23 percent turnout

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Election officials are projecting that 23 percent of Missouri voters will turnout for next week's presidential primary.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is encouraging people to vote in the primary -- even though the results won't count for awarding delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The state Republican Party has chosen to allot its presidential delegates based on the results of caucuses that will begin in mid-March. Under national party rules intended to prevent a crush of early primaries, Missouri Republicans could have risked losing half their presidential delegates if they had used a February primary to award delegates.

Missouri law still requires a presidential primary to be held on Feb. 7, but it does not require political parties to use its results for awarding delegates.