Absentee ballots predict final vote results half the time in county

By Laura Schiermeier, Staff Writer
Posted 8/10/22

MARIES COUNTY — At last Thursday’s Maries County Commission meeting, after the smoke had cleared from the Aug. 2 Primary Election, the commissioners, the county clerk and the county …

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Absentee ballots predict final vote results half the time in county

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MARIES COUNTY — At last Thursday’s Maries County Commission meeting, after the smoke had cleared from the Aug. 2 Primary Election, the commissioners, the county clerk and the county treasurer talked about the results.

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said he’s always heard the absentee ballots tell the story of the final election results. Others have heard this, too, and it was speculated because the absentee ballots are cast by people from all parts of the county and thus are a good representation of the whole county. 

They looked over the absentee results from the Aug. 2 election, and this was true only part of the time. For the Republican US Senator race, both Eric Greitens and Vicky Hartzler received 24 votes by absentee, and the winner in Maries County in this race and overall winner, Eric Schmitt, received 21 votes, three less than the other two top vote getters.

On the Democrat ballot for US Senate, Trudy Busch Valentine received 7 votes and Lucas Kunce received 10. Valentine won in Maries County and also was the winner statewide.

In the Republican contest for State Senator, 16th District, the absentees told a different ending as Justin Brown received 38 votes and Suzie Pollock received 37. Pollock won in Maries County by nine votes, but in the senate district she was narrowly defeated by Brown. 

In the race for State Representative, 143rd District, Bennie Cook had 50 votes absentee, compared to his two opponents on the Republic ticket, Christopher Davis with 13 and Phillip Lohman with 11. In this race the absentee ballots told the story that the final vote count showed. 

The absentees also were correct on the only local Proposition on the Aug. 2 ballot, which asked voters if they wanted a full time prosecuting attorney. Absentee voters said yes 56 and no 48. The final vote count among all of the county’s precincts on Proposition A was 1,128 yes and 619 no. The proposition passed soundly with 62.67 percent of the voters in favor of it.

At last Thursday’s commission meeting, it was discussed that many voters didn’t know the cost of Proposition A, which is an additional $94,711 as it changes the prosecutor’s salary from $52,101 for part time to $146,812 for full time. This is the same pay as the associate circuit court judge. The county pays the prosecutor’s salary; the state pays the judge’s salary. The state also gives annual raises of two to five percent, and this automatically will give the prosecutor the same raise.

Drewel said he doesn’t think people care what it costs the county. They liked the idea of a full time prosecutor. Those in the room like the idea as well, but there is uncertainty about what will need to be cut from the budget to pay for it. Or, it all may be okay with the budget, just tighter. 

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said they will have to look at it closely at budget time. By state statute, there are county officials’ budgets that can’t be cut. These include sheriff, collector, road districts, and assessor. Rodgers said that doesn’t leave much for them to carve out another $100,000. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said there will be no raises for anyone else. There already have been county office holders who have expressed concerns about the county commission cutting their budgets. Treasurer Rhonda Slone said the county has some savings but by statute they must keep three percent of the county’s revenues in reserve, so that can’t be used to prop up the budget shortfalls. 

911 information

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he called Phelps County’s 911 and talked to them about staffing shortages among other information about 911. Phelps County starts 911 dispatchers at $18 an hour and yet continues to be short of staff. Maries County pays less than that and continues to have staffing shortages. 

They talked about training and Stratman found out early training can be done online, it only takes an hour, and they get paid for it. This can be done ahead of time, but the important training is on the console in person. There are mandatory training requirements for dispatchers. Stratman said the county can’t contract out 911. In Phelps County, the 911 is governed by a board. 

Drewel said if that larger county, which has a big area to draw employees from is having staffing trouble, it’s easy to see that Maries County will too.

Perpetuate corners

The commissioners received a letter from the Missouri Department of Agriculture about its Agriculture Land Survey Program. The department is seeking participation interest for the cost-sharing effort to perpetuate corners of the United States Public Land Survey System (USPLSS), known as the County Surveyor Cooperative Remonumentation Program.

The USPLSS corners were originally set in Missouri by the General Land Office between 1815 and 1855 and form the basis for locating and describing all real property. The letter said as time has passed and development has occurred, evidence has eroded and many of these important corners have been destroyed. The goal of the program is to properly monument and document qualifying corners which have been recovered, prior to them becoming obliterated or lost. Remonumenting these corners now will aid in alleviating present and future land boundary issues.

The program is in cooperation between county commissions, county surveyors, and the Department of Agriculture. The department contracts with the county for the remonumentation of a specified number of corners and will pay $350 towards each corner along with all the monumentation supplies. The county will contract with a surveyor for the remonumentation of the corners. If the surveyor’s cost is in excess of $350 provided by the department, the county would be required to fund the addition compensation to the surveyor.

The commissioners said they want to continue to participate in this program, as they see the importance of perpetuating the corners. This year, local surveyor, Tyler “TC” James perpetuated five corners in Maries County and his company, Show-Me Land Surveying, LLC, was paid $1,500 by Maries County on April 28. The county was reimbursed for the expense on May 12 as it received a check for the same amount from the department. 

30 Years

Commissioner Fagre marked an anniversary on Aug. 4, 2022, the day of Thursday’s meeting. Some 30 years ago, on Aug. 4, 1992, he was first elected to the Maries County Commission. 

In 1992, he and Eastern District Commissioner Tom Gehlert were elected at the same time and joined Presiding Commissioner Jim Kleffner on the county commission. Other county officials at that time were County Clerk Joe Clay Crum, Treasurer Ronnie Terrill, Collector Eugene Hollis, Circuit Clerk and Recorder Leo Thompson, Assessor Judy Logan, Sheriff Roy Bassett, Prosecuting Attorney Jim Elliott, Associate Circuit Judge Jack Edwards, Coroner David Martin and Public Administrator Paula Meyer. 

98 to 75

Dave Swarthout of Vienna, was in the courthouse and stepped into the county commission meeting room. He said a storm blew up Wednesday afternoon with the wind blowing hard from the east. It brought down some tree limbs at his place, which weren’t used to the wind coming from that direction. He noted it was 98 degrees on his thermometer when the rain began. It didn’t last too long but brought the temperature down to 75 degrees. He got about one and four-tenths inches of rain. 

Stratman said he had three inches of rainfall the previous week. There was some flooding reported in the state, but none in Maries County. Swarthout said he thinks the rainfall received “broke the drought.” 

The seasons continue to change. Fagre said in August one hour of daylight will be lost. 

Swarthout told the group he “does not envy you your positions. I appreciate you all.”