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 13, 2024

Morgan County November 5 election results

MORGAN COUNTY – Voters in this county also choose Republicans to hold local and state offices.

The following candidates, all Republicans, were running unopposed for their offices:

• Eastern District Commissioner Brian Lehman
• Western District Commissioner Trent Edgar
• Sheriff Norman Dills
• Assessor Colleen Richardson-Richey
• Coroner Jim Towles
• Public Administrator Amanda Huffman
• State Representative District 58 Willard Haley
• Circuit Judge Circuit 26 Division 1 Andrew Hardwick

Morgan County voters said no to sports betting (Constitutional Amendment 2) but it passed and they also said no to Constitutional Amendment 3 (abortion) which also passed.

County voters were in step with the rest of the state in voting no to a gambling boat on the Osage River (Constitutional Amendment 5) and on Constitutional Amendment 6 which said: “Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to provide that the administration of justice shall include the levying of costs and fees to support salaries and benefits for certain current and former law enforcement personnel?”

They also agreed with state voters on Constitutional Amendment 7, which easily passed with a statewide total of 1,952,138 votes (68.459 percent) for and 899,408 votes (31.541 percent) against. That Amendment said:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

• Make the Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote;
• Prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue; and
• Require the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election?

Morgan County voters disagreed with the majority of voters on Proposition A which would increase the minimum wage with 4,320 county voters voting yes and 5,166 voting no. The proposition passed statewide.

Proposition A will cost entities more money and may end up costing municipalities money if businesses close due to the forced higher wages.

The financial aspects of this were also mentioned in the wording on the ballot.

“State governmental entities estimate one- time costs ranging from $0 to $53,000, and ongoing costs ranging from $0 to at least $256,000 per year by 2027. State and local government tax revenue could change by an unknown annual amount depending on business decisions.”

There was no information released on the percentage of Morgan County registered voters that voted in this election.

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