Kathy Dusenbery and William Quitmeier will face each other in the November election for the first district county commissioner seat after each won their party’s primary election Tuesday.
In the Republican race, Dusenbery defeated Jeff Jones by receiving nearly 78 percent of the votes to Jones’ 22 percent. Dusenbery received 1,283 votes while Jones received 363 votes.
After learning she defeated Jones, Dusenbery said, “I look forward to the general election and I hope it will be a clean election and that the mud slinging can stop.
“I feel we worked hard and feel the people we asked came out and voted to support me. I appreciate all their support,” said Dusenbery.
On the Democratic side, Quitmeier won over opponent Michelle Wilson by receiving almost 62 percent of the votes cast, while Wilson received 38 percent. In actual numbers, Quitmeier received 887 votes and Wilson received 546.
“I want to thank Michelle Wilson for getting in the race and I congratulate my November opponent and look forward to a positive race,” said Quitmeier. “I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me. It’s humbling to have people voting for you. And I’d like to thank all the people who waved to us while we were out with signs.”
Quitmeier said he thinks he is the most fiscally conservative candidate in the race and invited voters to support him in November.
“I invite all voters who support taxpayer dollars to come to my campaign and vote for me,” said Quitmeier. “Spending other people’s money is easy, we need to look at taxpayer money like it’s our own and be more frugal.”
Quitmeier said he will stand up for the people of the county and be their representative on the commission.
“I am not a ‘me too’ candidate. I will not be an echo on the commission,” said Quitmeier. “I want to be a voice for the people. My only special interest group is the neighborhoods and people.”
Both Dusenbery and Quitmeier have served as Parkville mayor and aldermen before choosing to run for the commissioner seat.
In the second district commissioner race, Republican Jim Plunkett will face Democrat Charles Rankin.
Each candidate ran unopposed in the primary election. Plunkett received 1,676 votes while Rankin received 1,705.
In the first district commissioner race there were a total number of votes cast of 3,079, however more total votes were cast in the second district commissioner race with a total of 3,381.
Overall in the county, in the commissioner races there were a total of 6,460 votes, with 3,322 of those for the Republican candidates and 3,138 votes for the Democratic candidates.
Voter turnout for the August election was low with only 12 percent of the registered voters in Platte County casting ballots. Out of a total 59,977 registered voters in Platte County, only 7,213 ballots were cast in this election.
By noon at the Shiloh Springs polling place east of Platte City, only 40 people had voted, out of a total number of registered voters of more than 900.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2006 the population of Platte County was estimated to be 83,061. This means approximately 72 percent of residents in Platte County are registered to vote and only 8.7 percent of residents voted in this election.
Volunteers at several polling sites said they expected turnout for the November election, with a presidential race on the ballot, to be much larger with lines of people waiting to vote. In the 2004 general election, voter turnout in Platte County was 71%.
7/30/08: Primary voters have choices