Koeper, Tracy win commissioner, state representative nominations

Clint Tracy is the winner of the Republican nomination for the 158th District Missouri House of Representatives seat representing Cape Girardeau.

Tracy won by a 345-vote margin, getting 1,560 votes to Wayne Wallingford's 1,215 and Jeff Glenn's 957.

Civil engineer Paul Koeper won the District 1 Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Republican nomination by a huge margin. Koeper garnered 2,063 votes. His next closest challenger, Joe Bob Baker, had 896.

In the Democratic District 1 primary, Marvin McMillan won, with 435 votes to Pat Wissman 411 and Myra Morris' 159.

Koeper gained a strong early lead after absentee ballots were counted.

When absentee ballots were counted Koeper had 79 votes. The next highest vote getter was Joe Bob Baker with 39 votes.

Koeper arrived at the administration building around 7:15 p.m. for the vote counting. He said he kept himself busy all day. At 7 p.m., someone asked how he was doing, and he said, "nervous."

"I should have run for dog catcher first," he joked. "When I signed up for this in November I had no idea it was going to get this big."

Voter turnout steady

Voter turnout was steady but unspectacular in Southeast Missouri today as voters choose candidates for legislative, county and statewide offices.

The weather cooperated with election authorities by providing hot but dry conditions. There were no major problems at Cape Girardeau County polling places, County Clerk Kara Clark said.

"It is busy at all the polls and I have been out all day," she said. "We have had just little things here and there, and I've had to put out some little brush fires."

Most of the issues involve voters who have moved and not filed a change of address or who insist they are registered but whose names cannot be found, but those have not been occurring in large numbers, Clark said.

Cape Girardeau County voters are choosing candidates for the District 1 County Commission seat in Democratic and Republican primaries. Voters in Cape Girardeau are choosing a Republican nominee in the 158th District Missouri House of Representatives contest.

Interviews with voters indicate that the winner of the commission race, with 13 candidates in all, will have a big job to restore public faith in county government.

"I think we need a whole new commission," said John Statler, who voted with his wife Carol Statler at Gordonville. "It needs an overhaul. They have worn out their welcome."

The Statlers said they chose Paul Koeper in the Republican primary because of Koeper's expertise in construction and as an engineer. "He knows what the job is about, which is highways."

And while the commission race wasn't on the ballot in every precinct, it was on voters minds.

"It is very disturbing," said Sandra Murphy, who voted with her daughter Cassandra Murphy at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Nearly 470 voters had cast ballots in Precinct 17 at the Arena Building by 3 p.m., while another 260 had voted in Precinct 7.

"One solution is to vote them all out and get a new group of people in," Murphy said. "I disagree with some of the things Jay Purcell has done but I understand why. It comes across as though the other two commissioners have something to hide."

Murphy and her daughter both said they went to the polls to vote in the GOP primary for governor.

Murphy said she chose U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof over State Treasurer Sarah Steelman. While it was a tough choice, she said, Hulshof won her vote "because he came across as more genuine and sincere."

In Perry County, where voters are nominating candidates for two commission seats, sheriff and the assessor's office, polling was going smoothly, Clerk Randy Taylor said. The turnout was decent, he said, though it is "less than we anticipated, probably because of the heat."

Scott County election officials also reported no serious problems. Scott County voters are nominating candidates in the Democratic primaries for sheriff and in one county commission district.