Municipal Election voter turnout April 6 was light to almost non-existent across most of Gasconade County.

A 10.78-percent turnout was reported across the county in official results released Friday following certification by County Clerk Lesa Lietzow and her staff.

Voter turnout in Owensville’s second ward was 7.67 percent as only 53 of 691 registered voters cast ballots in the two contested races there.

Ward 2 Alderman Charles “Rob” Borgmann, III, won a seventh two-year term with a three-vote margin of victory over challenger Mary E. Diestelkamp, 21 to 18. Karen Hubenthal-Arnold received 14 votes. Those figures add up to 51 total votes cast.

Lietzow said the apparent difference is that at least two ballots were cast without a vote for either of the three candidates.

The Owensville Area Ambulance District also recorded 53 ballots cast in the race for a sub-district No. 5 Board of Directors member. That subdistrict covers the city of Owensville’s second ward. Voters there cast 51 total votes between winner Mary Ann Huesgen (34) and Curtis Duncan (17).

Again, Lietzow said it appears there were two voters who under-voted their ballot by not casting a vote for either candidate.

Kevin McFadden was unopposed for re-election as a Ward 1 alderman and received 41 votes. That total included four absentee votes and 37 cast in person.

Turnout in Ward 1 Owensville was certified as 4.27 percent as only 41 of 960 registered voters cast ballots.

Hermann Ward 1 posted 33.11-percent turnout as 242 of 731 registered voters cast ballots. Derek J. LeRoy won easily over Robert C. Koerber, the town’s former mayor, 160 to 80. 

Hermann Ward 2 voters chose James R. Schirmer over Joseph T. Gleeson, 102 to 74, in a 20.65-percent turnout. In Ward 2, 178 of the 862 registered voters cast a ballot with two ballots under-voted.

Hermann residents also approved the sale of an electric transmission line in town to Central Electric Power Cooperative on  a 349 to 58 vote. Proposition E received 407 votes total from 420 ballots cast. The 420 ballots came from a pool of 1,593 registered voters for a 26.37-percent turnout combined across the city’s two wards.

The Gasconade County R-1 School District in Hermann had an unusual election in that it needed not have one except for when a third candidate withdrew from contention. The late withdrawal left the district needing to have an election even though only two candidates remained on the ballot for two positions.

Mark Brooks received 356 votes and Kevin Stiers received 396 votes as 480 ballots were cast between 3,577 registered voters. There were five “unresolved” written-in votes which were acknowledged in the certification process. There were no candidates who had declared as write-ins.

Two precincts which had practically no voting taking place last week had only the pick two candidates for the uncontested R-1 race option on their ballot. 

In the Little Berger precinct, only 15 ballots were cast out of 1,020 registered voters for a 1.47-percent turnout. Same situation in Swiss as only eight ballots were cast between 447 registered voters (1.79 percent).

Jennifer Griffith, Ward 1 Rosebud, and Doug Bauer, Ward 2, each received seven votes in uncontested races.

Kacey Zelch is the apparent write-in winner of the collector’s position in Rosebud. She received five write-in votes to the three received by Griffith who was elected as an alderman. Voter turnout overall in Rosebud was 8.57 percent as 15 of the city’s 175 registered voters cast ballots.

There was no voting at the Rural Canaan, Third Creek, Drake, or Tayloe precincts due to there not being any school board elections for voters in those areas.

Redbird precinct had six ballots cast for candidates in the Maries County R-2 School District’s election as six of 110 registered voters went to the precinct for a 5.45-percent turnout. 

Overall, across three Gasconade County precincts which had voting in the Maries R-2 election, 34 ballots were cast. Receiving votes in this election from voters in Gasconade County were Aaron Vandegriff (22), Kenda Sanders (20), and Ralicia Tyler (13). Voters could select two candidates.

Voters across three northern precincts had the chance to vote for school board members in the Osage County R-2 district in Linn. Receiving three votes each were Hannah Swann and Mark Baker. Three of 15 eligible voters in that area cast ballots.

Gasconade voters cast 15 votes for Michael Owens and 14 for Jennifer (Jenn) Miller to select two aldermen at large. Out of 60 eligible voters there, 15 ballots were cast for a 25-percent turnout.

Overall the Gasconade/Stolpe precinct recorded a 10.30-percent turnout. 

Morrison voters also selected two at-large aldermen who were uncontested. Thomas E. Hernandez and Rick Penrod each received 10 votes. Morrison’s turnout was 28.57 percent as 10 of 35 registered voters cast ballots.

The Morrison/Rural Morrison posted a 20-percent turnout overall as 20 of 100 registered voters cast ballots. The rural voters there cast ballots in school district elections.

And in Bland, voters there had a 6.71-percent turnout overall with only 23 of those 340 registered in the Bland/Canaan precinct casting ballots.

Ned Steiner received 20 votes and Diana Mayfield collected 18 ballots as Bland residents selected two aldermen for the two at-large positions available for two-year terms. 

Mark Farran received 20 votes as the uncontested candidate for the town’s other at-large alderman position for a one-year term.  There were 23 total ballots cast for that position.

A use tax proposition, erroneously placed on the ballot when city officials intended to seek approval for a sales tax to fund police operations, was defeated by four votes — 13 votes against to nine in approval. City officials had asked voters to reject Proposition A since they were unable to have the question removed from the ballot after it was certified. 

One other northern precinct which had voting April 6, Boulware, had a 3.37-percent turnout.