Turnout light in many area voting precincts

A quiet election day passed with few surprises in Southeast MIssouri.

Voters chose members of city councils, school boards and other local government entities. The heaviest turnout was in the smaller towns, where issues such as development, sewer systems and flood control dominate the agenda.

In Jackson, there will be no changes in the Board of Aldermen because no one opposed the four members and Mayor Barbara Lohr as they sought new two-year terms.

There was a low turnout Tuesday at the Red Star Baptist Activity Center polling location in Cape Girardeau. (Kit Doyle)

Luther R. Bonds beat out incumbent Charles Bertrand to join Kyle McDonald atop the field of Cape Girardeau School Board candidates, while incumbents Brent Wills and Cathy Goodman easily won re-election to the Jackson School Board.

Overall, turnout was extremely light in Cape Girardeau County, said Clerk Kara Clark. But in the towns where the races drew many candidates, voters went to the polls in much higher numbers.

"You can really tell that the places with contested races had the highest turnout," she said. But generally, she said, election judges were idle. "Everywhere I went, the people wanted more voters."

Election official of 30 years, Faye Schreiner, visits with Mayor Jay Knudtson after he voted in precinct 17 in the A.C. Brase Arena building Tuesday. At lunch time Knudtson was voter number 45 at precinct 17. "I've seen some big voting and small voting. This is definitely small voting," Schreiner said. (Elizabeth Dodd)

An election judge, who asked not to be named, gave a more colorful description. "It was 14 hours of boredom followed by 45 minutes of pandemonium at the end," she said.

While turnout in Cape Girardeau was less than 10 percent of the vote, in places like Gordonville, the turnout was strong for an April election.

Nearly 25 percent of the voters took part and elected Collin McClanahan, John Dumey and Kristy Strop to the village Board of Trustees. Incumbent Sheila Gross, who came in fifth in the five-way race, said she was pleased with both the turnout of voters and candidates.

"I want to see the best for the village," Gross said as she waited for returns to be posted in the County Administration Building in Jackson. "I am so tickled we finally have five people on the ballot."

In other town elections in Cape Girardeau County, voters chose Fran Wolfe, Darlene Thompson and Jeff Anglin over Albert Cook for the village board of Allenville and Shirley Moss, Angela Crutsinger and Dustin Lee Hoesli for the village board of Dutchtown. In Delta, Dale Hobeck was the victor in Ward 1 over Kaye Lesch and Ernest Brown defeated incumbent Harold Looney in Ward 2.

Voters in the Cape Special Road District stuck with long-time board member Robert W. Erlbacher III, giving him 724 votes to 357 combined for his two opponents, Norman Goehman and Pat Wissman.

Perry County

In Perry County, Beth Guth easily won a seat on the Perry County Memorial Hospital with 480 votes. The second-place finisher, Direk L. Hunt, had 145 votes. Incumbent Randy J. Leible won the Ward 2 Perryville Board of Aldermen race. Incumbents Kevin Bachmann and Jim Bauwens were easily re-elected Perryville School Board.

Bollinger County

In Marble Hill, Ward 1 incumbent Tim McCain defeated challenger Joshua A. Andrews 25 to 17 in light voting. Doug Faulkner and Megan Baker won seats on the Woodland School Board and Jean Clubb and Edward Vandeven won election to the Leopold School Board. Jason Harold Dailey was elected to a two-year term on the Sedgwickville Fire Protection District board and James J. Pate won a four-year term.

Scott County

Incumbents Gary Miller and Keith Simpson will serve second terms on the Scott City School Board, according to the county's unofficial results. Simpson received the most votes with 350, 39.5 percent of the total vote. Miller followed with 285 votes. Gary Haynes and Karen Pobst received 136 and 110 votes respectively.

In Oran, school board incumbents Marty Priggel and Carla Graviett were re-elected. They defeated Eric Urhahn and Pam Tenkhoff. Priggel received the most votes with 118, 35.7 percent of the total vote.

The Kelly School Board will seat two new members, Tony Powell and Mark Householder. Powell received the most votes with 129, 41.2 percent of the total vote. They defeated Bill Bailey, who received 66 votes. There were no incumbents up for re-election.