Drilling down on Tuesday's primary vote

A lighter-than-expected primary vote in Cape Girardeau County on Tuesday saw John Voss as the clear GOP victor for state House District 147, witnessed overwhelming passage of Jackson's wastewater referendum and noted an unanticipated upset in the circuit court clerk race.

Tuesday's turnout of 11,956, or a little more than 22% of registered voters, was about half of the 40% County Clerk Kara Clark Summers had projected.

"I'm not sure what contributed to the low (figure) but I knew by 8 a.m. on election day turnout was going to be much lower than I expected," Summers said Wednesday. "The polls were slow (and) at some of our large polling places, we had voters trickling in. Usually, there are a number of voters waiting at 6 a.m. for the polls to open."

Summers said the verification panel will meet at 10 a.m. today to begin the process of finalizing Tuesday's unofficial tallies, adding the panel may need to come back Friday to finish.

The county's verification board, made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, is charged with finalizing the vote.

District 147

Voss, winner in the three-way Republican contest, won nine of the city's precincts, including Precinct 1, his own. Voss also won the absentee vote.

Elaine Edgar, who came into vote as the most prodigious fundraiser of the trio, won the central poll plus four other precincts, but lost her own polling place, 6A, to Voss by 86 votes.

Nate Thomas lost his home precinct, 3B, to Edgar. The current Ward 3 Cape Girardeau city councilman did not win a single polling place Tuesday.

Edgar and Thomas congratulated Voss for his victory.

"I know John will work hard and do his best," Edgar said in a text Wednesday. "I am so grateful for how many people chose to support me. I felt God called me to do this, and I know He is in control."

"I congratulate John Voss on his victory. John and I vowed to run a clean campaign from the start, and I am proud to say we both upheld that commitment," wrote Thomas in an email not long after the polls closed.

Voss will square off in the Nov. 8 general election against Democrat Andy Leighton and Libertarian Greg Tlapek. Voss and Leighton responded to an email from the Southeast Missourian asking what each man's first legislative task would be if he wins the seat vacated by Wayne Wallingford last December.

"I would like to change the way legislative vacancies are filled. I believe any vacancy should trigger an automatic election clock so that no Missourian is left without a voice for very long. District 147 has not had a direct voice in the state House this year," Voss said.

"If I had to guess, my first piece of legislation would be geared toward reversing the loss of teachers and rejuvenating the ranks of that great profession," Leighton said. "(Teaching) is foundational to everything else we accomplish together as a society."

Circuit clerk

Challenger Ashley Schuessler won by 169 votes out of 9,140 ballots cast in upsetting incumbent Charleen "Charlie" Biester in a three-way race for the GOP nomination.

Jackson wastewater

Tuesday's overwhelming vote, 78% to 22%, in endorsement of a bond issue to upgrade and expand capacity of the city's 33-year-old wastewater treatment plant at 2230 Lee Ave. was popular in all sections of the municipality.

A "yes" vote was the choice of at least three-quarters of the electorate in each of Jackson's six precincts.

U.S. Senate

Cape Girardeau County voters tracked with the statewide tally for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by incumbent Roy Blunt.

County voters chose state Attorney General Eric Schmitt with more than 55% of the vote out of a field of 21 candidates. Schmitt won the GOP nomination Tuesday.

However, in the Democratic primary for Senate, Cape Girardeau County voters chose combat veteran Lucas Kunce out of 11 hopefuls with 49.6% of the vote. Statewide, Kunce lost to beer brewery heiress and former nurse Trudy Busch Valentine.