Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer had predicted a 10 percent voter turnout for Tuesday's municipal elections, and he was right on the mark.
The final, unofficial totals showed 10.44 percent of registered voters cast a ballot Tuesday - 4,973 voters of 47,623.
A power outage on the west side of Jefferson City left one polling location, Concord Baptist Church, without power for about the first half-hour of voting, from roughly 6-6:30 a.m. Korsmeyer said they brought in flash lights, but to his knowledge no voters came in during that time.
Korsmeyer said poll staff had to ask initiative petition collectors to move from some polling locations, mainly churches, and they did so without incident. State law requires those collecting signatures to be at least 25 feet away from the door of a polling place.
In Jefferson City, there were few items on Tuesday's ballots - among them were two open seats on the Jefferson City Public Schools Board of Education, a three-way race for the City Council in Ward 5, and whether to officially remove the Firemen's Pension Fund from the city charter.
The Ward 5 seat was vacated by Larry Henry, who chose not to run for re-election. Jon Hensley, Jim Crabtree and Ashley Jones-Kaufman sought the seat.
More: Click here for Mid-Missouri election results.
When asked what brought them to the polls Tuesday, Ward 5 resident Jane Eder said she and her husband want input on who their elected officials are.
"We wanted a spokesperson for our area, our neighborhood," Eder said.
Pam Murray and Michael Couty, both school board incumbents, faced challenges from Ken Enloe and Lindsey Rowden.
With so few issues on the ballot, most people responding to questions at the polls said they were most concerned about candidates for the Jefferson City school district.
Carol Dismang said she voted for someone who knows public schools better than the other candidates. She wouldn't identify her favorite candidate.
"There's not really a Republican or a Democrat for me," she said. "I really look at who can do the job."
In Ward 3, Wendell Mitchell, Tom Talbot and Lois Ruth said their top concerns revolved around the school board.
"I was mainly interested in the school board election," Ruth said. "That's why I made an effort to be here."
Voters from several wards said they were concerned about racism and discipline in schools. The city was wounded late last summer, some say, when some Jefferson City High School students posted a racially insensitive photograph of themselves on social media.
Carol Fischer said she was deeply interested in the school board race.
"The next few years in the Jefferson City Public School District are going to be challenging," Fischer said.
Talbot described the school board as an important organization.
"It's really strange," he said. "But right now, maybe 5 percent of the voters will decide who's going to be on the school board - or 10 percent."
That lack of voter turnout for Tuesday's municipal election was a recurring theme among voters' concerns.
Ruben Ulstad said he makes voting a habit.
"I just do it all the time," Ulstad said. "I'd say it's a responsibility. Whether I do it right or not, I just do it."
Voting is an "honor and a privilege," he said.
The lowest turnout for an April election in Cole County was 6.7 percent in 2012, according to the Cole County Clerk's Office, which researched back to 1996.
No matter how much is on the ballot, the process is important, said Lincoln University student Kendall Martinez-Wright.
"I believe that every election is very important, whether it's citywide, state, national," Martinez-Wright said. "I believe your voice really does matter at the end of the day. I feel like a lot of individuals see smaller elections as kind of more invalid; and I believe every election, whether it's small or big, is very important because it gives you a chance to voice your opinions on who's going to be the right individual to represent all of us."
"I just think that it's very important to carry out our right to vote," said Hannah Kiddoo. "And it's amazing that women have only had the right to vote since 1920."
In small towns, voters truly know their candidates. Take Lohman, a town of about 165 people, where everybody's your neighbor no matter where you live.
Area resident Donna Viles said she voted in Tuesday's local election on the principle that people should exercise their right to vote, but she wasn't particularly passionate about anything on the ballot. Viles said she thinks it is important to participate in every election to promote a fair democratic process in which members of both parties can submit their opinions without making enemies of each other.
"People of both parties used to be able to get along and talk to one another," she said. "I'm worried about what kind of example we are setting for young people."
Married couple Lyle and Hilda Hartling said they voted because Lohman mayoral candidate Jason Wood, who won Tuesday's election, came knocking on their door to remind them about the race between him and incumbent Mayor Tom Kirchner.
"We probably wouldn't have been here (otherwise)," Lyle Hartling said at the polling location. "The fact that he's interested enough to actually campaign a little bit kind of got our attention."
Dismang said she practices her right to vote every chance she gets.
Each time she votes, she stacks her "I voted" stickers on her blue leather wallet. She's done that with the same wallet for more than 20 years. After the stickers get about five deep, she peels them off and starts over.
Nothing in particular brought Joe Coy out to vote at Jefferson City's Ward 4, Precinct 2 polling place at Capital West Christian Church on Fairgrounds Road.
"I just like to participate," Coy said.
Incumbent Jefferson City Councilman Ron Fitzwater ran unopposed in Ward 4, so voters there had ballot choices only for school board candidates and the firemen's pension issue.
Barbara Chilcutt said the board was the issue that drew her to the polls.
It also brought out Carmen Morrissey. Neither Chilcutt nor Morrissey said they had had any issues with the voter ID requirements.
However, voter ID was an issue that popped up in rare and random incidents when a few voters forgot to bring identification to the polling sites. In Cole County, the April election was the first for most voters since a new voter ID law went into effect. Sixty-three percent of Missouri voters approved amending the state's Constitution to require photo IDs in August 2016. The law went into effect June 1, 2017.
Voters now are required to show their driver license, a passport or a military ID to vote. If they have forgotten it, they can fill out a provisional ballot and sign a document that says they are who they say they are. Election officials will check their signatures against those on file; or the voter can run home, get their ID and return, at which time the provisional ballot becomes official.
Mark Zacher, who lives in an unincorporated part of southern Boone County near Ashland, did not support the voter ID law but said it doesn't appear to have slowed anybody down Tuesday.
"Across the country, it seemed like maybe an attempt to restrict voting," Zacher said. "The one that passed in Missouri was probably better than some of the other ones."
Carol Fischer said she was prepared to display her identification as part of the new law.
"I am strongly opposed to it because I believe it disenfranchises some voters who do not have a photo ID," she said. "And I just believe they won't go out and get a photo ID or they won't come and vote."
Martinez-Wright said there are a lot of young people, like himself, who question how they can help make things better or what they can do to get their opinions heard.
"They do have that decision of voicing their opinions and going out and voting," he said, "and just show the general population that 'Hey, we're citizens as well. We also have our say, too.'"
See also:
Callaway County election results
Maries County election results
Miller County election results
Moniteau County election results