The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published November 12, 2014

Election: voter turnout higher but no surprises

By Jeff Thompson
LAKE OF THE OZARKS - For the majority of the lake area, the Nov. 4 general election was one with very few choices for voters to make.

Nearly every county office was dominated by Republican candidates without any opposition from the Democratic party, or any other political party for that matter.

The only elected positions featuring a choice of candidates - on a state or federal level - were State Auditor, U.S. Representative District 3 and U.S. Representative District 4.

However, all three incumbents - State Auditor Tom Schweich, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer and U.S Rep. Vicki Hartzler - easily won re-election.

Each of the following state positions in Camden County had only one candidate:
State Senator Dan Brown, State Rep. Diane Franklin and State Rep. Rocky Miller; again, all three easily won their re-election bids.

Locally, Camden County voters said no to a proposed $7.9 million bond issue for Public Water System District 3.

Republicans dominated the ballot box in both Miller and Camden counties and nearly all of the candidates were incumbents for the following positions:

Camden County Associate Judge 26th Circuit Division 3 and Division 4;
Miller County Associate Circuit Judge;
Presiding Commissioner;
County Clerk;
Circuit Court Clerk;
Recorder of Deeds;
Prosecuting Attorney;
Collector of Revenue;
Camden County Auditor; and
Miller County Treasurer.

In Miller County Mike Bernskoetter beat Michael Eberle for the State Rep. District 59 in while incumbent State Senator District 6 Mike Kehoe won his re-election bid against candidate Mollie Kristen Freebairn. (Morgan County shared the State Senator District 6 ballot.)

Out of all the Camden County seats, Greg Hasty and Michael Gilley were the only candidates that are not incumbents. Both Hasty and Gilley faced heated battles that culminated in the primary election held in August of 2014.

Unlike Miller and Camden counties, Morgan County featured two candidates for Presiding Commissioner (winner James Bryant), County Clerk (winner Cathy Daniels), Circuit Court Clerk (winner Lori Moon) and County Treasurer (winner Kim Gunn Ingersoll).

The two non-contested Morgan County races - Prosecuting Attorney and Collector of Revenue - featured single democratic candidates.

Voters also made decisions on four constitutional amendments on the November ballot.

Missourians approved Constitutional Amendment 2, allowing “relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions in crimes of a sexual nature…” and
Constitutional Amendment 10, providing “a legislative check on the governor’s decisions to restrict funding for education or other state services …”

Missourians voted down Constitutional Amendment 3 which tied teachers positions to students’ achievements on standardized tests, and Constitutional Amendment 6 which would have allowed an expanded form of early voting.

According to Secretary of State Jason Kander, the unofficial voter turnout for the Nov. 4 election was 35.23 percent with approximately 1,437,784 of Missouri’s 4,081,259 registered voters going to the polls.

Camden County Clerk Rowland Todd had earlier predicted only a 15 to 20 percent voter turnout. However, voter turnout ranged from approximately 40 percent to 23 percent in the three lake area counties.

The three Missouri counties with the highest turnout were Knox County (52.11 percent), Schuyler (50.82 percent) and Worth (50.30 percent), according to Kander.

“Statewide, voter participation was highest in the contest over Constitutional Amendment 3,” Kander stated.

The Missouri voter turnout tally in the August primary election was only 24.58 percent, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Election results statewide will be officially certified by Dec. 9.

Individual results can be found at each county website:
Camden County, www.camdenmo.org;
Miller County, http://millercountymissouri.org; and
Morgan County, www.morgan-county.org.