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Cape Girardeau voters elected write-in candidate Debra Tracy and former city councilwoman Loretta Schneider to the city council Tuesday, filling two seats that had been vacant for over three months.

Tracy and Schneider are scheduled to be sworn in Thursday at city hall.

Tracy, a last-minute candidate for the Ward 3 council seat, said she is thrilled to win. She credited her victory to voters wanting another choice than that offered by the other two candidates.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle campaigned for Tracy in the days leading up to the election.

Tracy garnered over 60 percent of the vote in defeating businessmen Stan Wicks and R. Todd McBride.

Wicks finished second with 19.7 percent of the vote. McBride came in third with 15.8 percent of the vote.

Tracy received 386 write-in votes. Wicks received 126 votes and McBride received 101 votes, election officials said. The other 25 votes were write-in votes for someone other than Tracy, the only official write-in candidate in the race.

"People were wonderful," said Tracy who went door to door and held a block party to reach voters.

Tracy's tactics on election day angered Wicks. Tracy's campaign posted signs on pickup trucks parked in front of two of the polling places Tuesday.

"This is crazy," said Wicks, who called police to complain.

But police and county election officials said the posted signs were more than 25 feet from the door of the polling places and were in compliance with state law.

Schneider defeated another former councilman, J.J. Williamson, for the Ward 4 seat.

Schneider received 358 votes, or nearly 64 percent of the vote. Williamson received 191 votes, or 34 percent of the vote. There were 11 write-in votes though no write-in candidate was running for that council seat.

"I think I do know a lot of voters," said Schneider who served on the council from 1981 to 1986 and has been a longtime election judge.

Schneider normally works the polls at LaCroix United Methodist Church on Lexington Avenue. But election officials placed her in a different precinct this time and one in which she wasn't on the ballot. That way there was no conflict of interest, she said.

Many of those who voted at the polling station at Fellowship Baptist Church on the city's south side discovered they weren't in either of the two council wards up for election.

"People were so confused. Very few people knew what city ward they were in," Schneider said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123