RICKARD, PURCELL WIN IN WARD 3 PRIMARY ELECTION

One candidate stayed home, another watched a John Wayne movie and the third thawed out frozen water pipes on the night voters decided which ones would be on the general election ballot for Cape Girardeau Ward 3 councilman.

Incumbent Jack Rickard and challenger Jay Purcell will be the candidates in the Ward 3 election to be held April 2.

Rickard gained 97 votes and Purcell 53. Dru Reeves was eliminated by a 20-vote margin.

It took less than 30 minutes to count the 183 ballots cast Tuesday in the Ward 3 primary election.

"We've never been done this quick," Patty Schlosser, who works in the county clerk's office, said after totaling the ballots.

According to the city's charter, a primary race is needed when twice as many candidates file for office as there are seats open on the council. The three men filed for the one open seat in Ward 3.

Although there are 3,522 eligible voters in the ward, only 5 percent cast ballots. In Precinct 11, only 8 people voted, one by absentee ballot.

Election officials attribute the low turnout to a lack of issues.

"I guess they just forgot or didn't know or the candidates didn't politic too well," said Lois Boston. In her 22 years at the county clerk's office, Boston said big issues like taxes and riverboat gambling draw voters to the polls.

When the city proposed a ward system in 1992, more voters turned out than did Tuesday, she said.

Part of the low turnout could be attributed to no campaigning. Banners, signs and posters touting the candidates' names didn't factor into this race at all. None of the men campaigned heavily for the election and no one waited at St. Andrew Lutheran Church where county election officials counted the ballots after polls closed at 7 p.m.

Rickard, 66, was first elected to the Cape Girardeau City Council in 1992 to fill an unexpired term vacated when Al Spradling was elected mayor.

"I'm almost ashamed to be talking when there was such a low turnout," he said. "I'm sorry there was such a low turnout but I'm glad to be at the top of the list."

Purcell accredited his 53 votes to some last-minute campaigning.

"I went door-to-door Monday and Tuesday morning," he said. "It was fun, cold but fun. I knew I needed to get out."

Purcell, 28, plans to campaign harder for the April election.

"I appreciate that people trusted me enough to put me on the ballot and want to make it a council of the people," he said, adding that he would like to set up a system for quick response to constituent complaints and problems.

Reeves, 26, who was eliminated from the race, said he learned from his mistakes in this election.

"I'll try again next time," he said. "You can't always win the first time around."