Syler, Freeze reelected to county health board, Becking wins by a nose, Howard triumphs

Georganne Syler and John M. Freeze won reelection Tuesday to the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center Board of Trustees, with newcomer Eric Becking finishing third in the race, besting incumbent Emily Tuschhoff Collins by a single vote.

Three four-year terms were open this cycle.

Kara Clark Summers, county clerk and election authority since 2007, said more candidates sought election to the PHC trustees this cycle than ever before in her tenure.

The COVID-19 mask mandate, imposed in July and recently dropped by the PHC board in favor of a "strongly recommended" position, received much attention from the candidates and the public at large.

In the race for a two-year term on the PHC board, Diane Howard defeated Cassidy M. Klein.

John Freeze

Howard, who had been appointed by the Cape Girardeau County Commission after the resignation of Patricia Ray until this municipal election, will now finish out Ray's unexpired term.

Unofficial results

(four-year term with three to elect)

Eric Becking

Diane Howard

• Georganne P. Syler: 2,032
• John M. Freeze: 1,729
• Eric Becking: 1,593
• Emily Collins: 1,592
• Carol Meza: 1,334
• Matthew Uchtman: 1,300
• Nancy K. Johnson: 994
• Gerry Salter: 745
• J. Michael Davis: 633

Unofficial results

(two-year unexpired term, one to elect)

Emily Collins

• Diane Howard: 2,611
• Cassidy M. Klein: 1,439

Certification

Cape Girardeau County's non-partisan verification board meets Friday to certify the results.

Summers said Tuesday night it is not unusual for a different final result once a team of election judges pores over the vote totals.

The issue is particularly fraught because of the single vote separating newcomer Becking and incumbent Collins.

Becking and Collins gave quite different responses when asked earlier this cycle by the Southeast Missourian for their opinions of the now-lifted mask mandate.

• Becking: "I always tend to err on the side of people having a choice, individuals being able to decide how to handle themselves. If there truly is danger, of course we want to abide by (the rules), but at the end of the day, especially as a dad, as a health care provider, I like to encourage people and give them the facts but (the people) must choose how they want to handle that."
• Collins: "I fully support it. I'm glad, of course, to see more and more vaccinations every day in the county, but masking -- with masks worn properly -- is still necessary and will be for quite awhile."

Only 8.57% of Cape Girardeau County's 52,468 registered voters cast a ballot Tuesday, the lowest turnout in at least a decade for an April municipal election.