Area counties' results on some ballot issues differ from statewide outcomes

Election results in Cape Girardeau County and surrounding counties did not mirror the statewide outcome Tuesday on some of Missouri�s ballot issues.

A measure to gradually increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour won voter approval statewide by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin. But voters in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties rejected the issue, final vote totals show.

The measure, Proposition B, narrowly passed in Scott County, winning nearly 51 percent of the vote.

In Cape Girardeau County, more than 51 percent of those who cast ballots rejected Prop B. In Bollinger County, the no votes totaled more than 56 percent; in Perry County, over 50 percent.

Missouri voters approved constitutional Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana, joining a long list of states allowing the once-forbidden drug to be used for medicinal purposes. Statewide, more than 65 percent favored the measure.

Nearly 60 percent of voters who cast ballots in Cape Girardeau, Scott and Perry counties backed the measure, election returns show.

But Bollinger County voters opposed the measure, 51 percent to 49 percent.

Voters statewide and locally overwhelmingly rejected two other medical-marijuana issues on the ballot.

Experts had predicted a court battle if more than one of the marijuana measures had passed.

Voters by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin statewide approved constitutional Amendment 1, which changes the process for redrawing state legislative districts. But in Bollinger and Scott counties, voters rejected the amendment. More than 57 percent opposed it in Bollinger County. In Scott County, the no votes totaled more than 53 percent.

The measure won support in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, with �yes� votes totaling 55 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

Proposition D, which would have raised the state�s fuel tax for the first time in 22 years, lost statewide by a 53.6 percent to 46.4 percent margin.

Voters in Cape Girardeau County and surrounding counties also opposed the measure, which would have raised the gas tax by 2.5 cents a gallon each year for the next four years. At the end of that time, the gas tax would have risen from 17 cents a gallon to 27 cents a gallon.

The measure had the support of chambers of commerce and civic leaders locally and statewide.

Voters in Bollinger and Scott counties overwhelmingly opposed paying more at the pump. More than 66 percent said �no� to the measure in Bollinger County, while nearly 63 percent opposed it in Scott County, according to election returns.

In Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, more than 51 percent of those who cast ballots opposed the fuel-tax measure.

Voters statewide by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin approved constitutional Amendment 4 to remove restrictions on management and advertising of bingo games.

The measure narrowly won in Scott and Perry counties, securing 51 percent approval.

In Bollinger County, the measure garnered nearly 56 percent approval; in Cape Girardeau County, 54 percent.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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