Incumbents win all three local races

by JONATHON DAWE

Statesman Staff Writer

EDITORS NOTE: What follows are the unofficial returns for Stoddard County. The state totals were not certified at the time of this writing.

Although it was a cold, drizzly November Tuesday, the polls in Stoddard County saw plenty of activity. Most certainly, the contested races within Stoddard County drew the most attention.

Perhaps one of the most closely watched races was the seat of Presiding Commissioner. Incumbent Greg Mathis faced a challenge from Cecil Weeks. The final count revealed Mathis winning with 3,930 votes. Weeks finished with 3,265 votes.

Another hotly contested race was for the position of circuit judge. Incumbent Joe Satterfield faced opposition from Justin Kelley. Satterfield won with 3,853 votes. Kelley finished closely with 3,332 votes.

Missouri Rep. Tila Rowland-Hubrecht, R-151, kept her recently won seat with 4,991 votes. Challenger Ryan Holder collected 2,100.

U.S. Representative, Dist. 8 was called for incumbent Jason Smith, who earned 5,157 votes. His main challenger, Barbara Stocker, obtained only 1,411 votes.

In other election news, Amendment 2, "Shall Missouri be amended so that it will be permissible to allow relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible on prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under 18 years of age."

Cost to the government estimated at $1.4 million annually. The amendmentpassed with 5,077 votes.

The controversial Amendment 3, If approved, the amendment would require teachers to be evaluated by "standards based performance evaluation, teachers be retained or dismissed based on student performance, teachers would work on a three year or less contract, prohibit teachers from organizing or collective bargaining regarding the teacher evaluation system.

Cost of the amendment is called "significant" including the development of evaluation instruments. The amendment failed with 5,684 votes.

Amendment 6, which establishes early voting, but with designated times. Early voting is different than absentee voting in that no reason need be given for voting prior the election. The designated period of "six business days prior to and including the Wednesday before the election day in all general elections."

The estimated cost if $2 million, plus $200,000 for reimbursing local government costs. The amendment failed overwhelmingly with 5,257 votes.

Amendment 10, which would greatly limit the powers of Missouri's Governor financial powers concerning the state budget, passed with 4,207 votes.

According to the Stoddard County Clerk's office, Stoddard County had a strong turnout with a total of 7,299.