Analysis: 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s election

Elections on Tuesday, April 2, focused on municipal offices and local and school referendums. The results captured a snapshot of the electorate.

What does that picture show?

Here are five takeaways:

Turnout

Perry County had the highest turnout in the area, with 22% of registered voters casting a ballot. One in five Cape Girardeau County voters, 20%, participated. Scott County reported only 13% turnout.

Those numbers may sound low, but in Cape Girardeau County, 20% was the high-water mark of the past seven years. Last year, turnout was 18% for the April election. Turnout in other April elections was: 2022, 15%; 2021, 9%; 2020 (held in June because of COVID-19), 12%; 2019, 15%. In 2018, with a renewal of the city’s stormwater/parks tax on the ballot, 13% voted. The 2017 ballot featured a significant loan authorization for Jackson public schools, and turnout was 13%.

Mixed bag for local tax measures

Results on local government tax measures varied.

The City of Cape Girardeau’s proposed property tax increase to fund public safety personnel salaries failed by a four-percentage-point margin, 52%-48%.

A countywide sales tax for emergency communications services failed by a similar margin in Perry County, 53%-47%. A .25% sales tax increase in Delta went down by that same margin.

Scott County voters, though, approved three tax increases. A countywide .5% law enforcement sales tax proposal narrowly won, 51%-49%. Chaffee voters overwhelmingly approved a 3% retail sales tax on marijuana, with 71% supporting the measure. In Morley, a .5% sales tax won with 63% of the vote.

What caught Cape County voters’ attention?

In any election, vote totals for individual ballot items vary. Some voters choose someone/an answer for every option. Others pick and choose for whom/on what they vote. Election officials refer to this difference in vote totals as "undervote".

In Cape Girardeau County, two ballot items caught voters’ attention, as evidenced by the miniscule undervote.

The City of Cape Girardeau public safety property tax measure included an undervote of only 1%, meaning 99% of voters who cast a ballot expressed an opinion on the measure. Jackson public schools’ Proposition T, to fund personnel salary enhancements, received a vote from 99.8% of all those who cast a ballot.

However, in the Cape Girardeau Public School Board of Education race, one in four voters — 25% — didn’t choose any candidate. In Jackson, 17% of voters didn’t select any school board candidate. In the vote to name a Cape Special Road commissioner, only 78% of voters weighed in.

Jackson school measure rejected — again

Jackson’s public schools system has been a major source of community pride over the years. Patrons have routinely raised tax rates to expand facilities and recruit and retain teachers and staff.

In 2012, 70% of voters approved $16 million in borrowing, and in 2017, they overwhelmingly passed a $22 million bond issue (with no increase in tax rates).

But last year and this year, when school officials asked voters to raise taxes to expand facilities and boost teacher pay, patrons balked.

Tuesday, Prop T (teacher salaries) failed by a 54%-46% vote. The measure would have raised property tax rates by 47 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Last year, Jackson voters rejected two measures — Prop I and Prop N — by margins of 3% and 14% respectively.

Kelso voters also rejected the local school district’s Prop KIDS funding measure Tuesday by a 54%-46% vote. The proposal required 57% to pass.

Night of the write-ins

Every ballot item involving candidates has a line for a write-in. Often, if a voter chooses to write in a candidate not listed on the ballot, the choice is personal (the voter himself or a relative) or symbolic (a historic figure or celebrity). Write-in candidates seldom win, though it does happen. (In 2010, Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski won a U.S. Senate seat as a write-in.)

Tuesday, two write-in candidates in the region won their race.

In Marble Hill, Mayor Trey Wiginton received 89 votes as a write-in, compared to 39 for challenger Charley Neeley. Wiginton ran as a write-in candidate after he failed to file the necessary reelection documents in time.

In Morley, Rodney McCoy won an at-large alderman seat by receiving the second-most votes for two open positions. Brent Powell tallied the most votes, 90, while James Scherer received 25 and James Kerber received 11.