HERMANN – It will be the most crowded Primary Elections ballot of Lesa Lietzow’s longtime tenure as Gasconade County clerk. Unfortunately, the size of the ballot is not expected to be indicative of voter turnout.

Indeed, Lietzow Thursday morning said her prediction for voter turnout is only 15 percent — a woefully low showing for what will be Lietzow’s last April election. The county clerk is closing the book on her service as the county’s chief elections official when she retires Dec. 31, which is the end of her current four-year term. Her successor takes over Jan. 1.

“I hope it is more than 15 percent,” the county clerk said during last week’s session of the County Commission, noting that low turnout is being projected in many of Missouri’s 114 counties. “That’s in every county of the state,” she said.

By the end of last week, voters still had no reason to get excited about the various races for county government offices in Gasconade County. None of the four “open” offices on the ballot had attracted more than a single candidate. An open office is one in which the incumbent is not seeking re-election. In this county, those offices are the County Clerk, Recorder of Deeds (a new office), County Treasurer and County Collector. Incumbents seeking another term and as of the end of last week going unchallenged are Associate Circuit Judge Ada Brehe-Krueger, Circuit Clerk Jennifer Schneider and Prosecuting Attorney Mary E. Weston.

The only race that had developed through the end of last week is the one for Presiding Commissioner. Incumbent Tim Schulte of Hermann is being challenged by Mark Mundwiller of Owensville for the Republican Party nomination.

Filing for the August Primary Elections for county government offices and state and federal legislative positions ended at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Because of a mid-day Tuesday press deadline, the Gasconade County Republican was unable to include any final-day filings in this week’s print edition. Nominees of the Republican and Democrat parties will face off in the November General Elections.

Preparing for next Tuesday’s elections has not been without its difficulties for Lietzow. As chief elections officer, she is responsible for having enough election judges on hand at each of the county’s 16 precincts; that’s three GOP judges and three Democrat judges. Being such a heavily GOP-leaning county, it’s sometime a chore to find enough Democrat poll workers to fill out the roster. Going into the last week before the balloting, she was making a last-minute search for workers..

“I still don’t have enough poll workers,” she said. “I need a Democrat in Owensville,” she added. It’s been difficult to find enough Republican election judges, as well. “It’s been like pulling teeth” finding the required number of election judges, she said. “It’s almost like pulling Republican teeth; I had to reach out to the Republican Club for help,” she said.

Election judges are paid about $100 plus mileage for their day’s work at the polls, which are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election judge supervisors (one for each party) receive a few more dollars than the non-supervisory judges. The supervisors are responsible for delivering the ballots to the courthouse after the polls have closed.

The County Clerk’s Office regularly mounts a recruitment effort to build a roster of poll workers. But with an aging population throughout the county — and especially among Democrats — the office regularly faces a shortage of available workers. Anyone interested in serving as a poll worker at a future election should contact the County Clerk’s Office at 573-486-5427.