Chuck and Cathie Baldwin were driving in the dark early on Election Day to work a shift at their polling place in rural Missouri when floodwaters overtopped a creek and swept their vehicle off the road. The couple, married for more than half a century, were later found dead, clinging to a tree and to each other.
Wright County Sheriff Sonny Byerley said the Baldwins - who regularly volunteered to help in elections - tried to swim to dry ground but drowned, among at least five people killed Tuesday as torrential rains drenched the state.
"When I'd go to the polling locations, they were there and they were always happy to be a part of it," said Byerley, who polices the county of about 19,000 residents, 210 miles 340 kilometers southeast of Kansas City. "They did believe in the American republic and the polling system."
The state's highway patrol and the sheriff have not released their names, saying only that the man who died was 70 and the woman was 73. But the Baldwins' daughter, Michelle Baldwin-Bostian, of North Carolina, confirmed their identities Wednesday.
News spread fast among the couple's friends in tiny, tightknit unincorporated Manes, Missouri, where voters filled out their ballots in a music hall that regularly hosts performances by local artists.
