County turns out 3,537 voters in midterm election

According to the official results released Friday, Nov. 7, by the Moniteau County Clerk, voter turnout for the mid-term election on Nov. 4 was 38.13 percent. There were 3,537 ballots cast out of the 9,277 registered voters in Moniteau County.

With no opposition in the local races, elected were: Associate Circuit Judge Peggy D. Richardson, Republican, 3,124 votes (99.11 percent); Presiding County Commissioner Kenneth E. Kunze, Republican, 3,085 votes (98.81); Circuit Clerk and Ex-officio Recorder of Deeds Michele A. Higgins, Republican, 3,119 votes (99.27); County Clerk Roberta Elliott, Republican, 3,126 votes (99.33); Prosecuting Attorney Shayne Healea, Republican, 2,396 votes (90.86); Collector of Revenue Cheryl K. Duvall, Democrat, 2,809 votes (98.05); Treasurer Sarah B. Jones, Republican, 3,057 votes (98.65).

Moniteau County voters helped re-elect State Representative 50th District Caleb Jones, Republican, by adding 1,470 votes (98.86 percent of those cast), and State Representative 58th District David Wood, Republican, 1,537 votes (99.11). Neither had opposition in the general election.

In Moniteau County, incumbent State Sen. 6th District Mike Kehoe, Republican, received 2,796 votes (81.71 percent of those cast in the county), while his opponents Mollie Kristen Freebairn, Democrat, garnered 624 (18.23). Incumbent U.S. Representative 4th District Vicky Hartzler, Republican, took 2,596 votes (75.73) in the county, while Nate Irvin, Democrat, took 629 votes (18.35) and Herschel L. Young (Libertarian) received 200 (5.83).

In the only statewide office on the ballot, incumbent State Auditor Tom Schweich, Republican, took 2,720 (84.37) of the votes in the county, while Sean O'Toole, Libertarian received 400 votes (12.41) and Rodney Farthing (Constitution Party) received 97 votes (3.01) The Jamestown C-1 School District proposal for a tax levy increase failed by a small margin. In Moniteau County, the vote went against the tax levy increase 228 no votes (50.33 percent) to 225 "yes" (49.67). The few school district voters in Cole County changed the numbers slightly but not the results.

On the proposed constitutional amendments, the majority of Moniteau County voters went with the majority of voters in the state on all of the proposed amendments, approving two and voting down two.

Approved was Amendment 2, to allow "relevant evidence" of prior criminal acts "of a sexual nature" to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under 18 years of age, and Amendment 10, which, as stated in the ballot wording, will "provide a legislative check on the governor's decisions to restrict funding for education and state services". It also denys the governor the ability to reduce appropriations for paying off public debt.

Turned down by voters of the county and of the state, were Amendment 3, which would have brought about a greater amount of testing in schools, with teacher retention tied to testing results, and Amendment 6, which would have permitted early voting for six days before the election.

Moniteau County voters voted to retain in office several judges: Judge Laura Denvir, Missouri Supreme Court; Judge Paul Campbell Wilson, Missouri Supreme Court; Judge Lisa White Hardwick, Western District Court of Appeals; and Judge Anthony Rex Gabbert, Western District Court of Appeals.