ELECTION OFFICIALS ANTICIPATE 10% VOTER TURNOUT
Municipal elections involving area cities, school districts, fire districts, ambulance districts and other entities will be held on Tuesday, April 2.
See the legal notices section of this edition of The Landmark for various candidates and ballot questions for entities.
Voter turnout in April elections is typically low, and that is expected to be the case next week, local election officials say.
“While the competitive races–and a handful of questions–may draw out voters, I’d expect countywide turnout to be around 10 percent this year,” says Chris Hershey, director for the Platte County Board of Elections.
As of Monday, March 25, about 138 people had voted by absentee ballot.
“Missouri offers two weeks of no-excuse absentee voting. Folks can come to our office and vote 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, as well as 8-noon this Saturday, March 30,” Hershey said. “They don’t need to have any conflicts on Election Day, they can just come and vote.”
Hershey explained that there are a couple of new polling sites in certain areas of the county this election. Voters who previously voted at Faith Community Church will now vote at The Hub at East Platte, 12220 NW Skyview Avenue, Kansas City.
Parkville’s wards three and four will vote at The Oasis Clubhouse in Thousand Oaks, 6040 N. Nevada Avenue. Those who previously voted at Hope Fellowship and live north of Barry Road will now cast their ballots at Riverstone Retirement Community, 9000 N. Congress Avenue, Kansas City.
BALLOT HIGHLIGHTS
Some of the highlights on the ballot include:
City of Platte City: Contested battle for mayor between Tony Paolillo, incumbent, and Steve Hoeger, currently an alderman. Paolillo resigned from the post at an aldermen meeting on March 26 but his name is still on the ballot.
Platte County R-3 School District: A ballot question on whether to end the Proposition C tax levy rollback. Also, three candidates for two open school board seats. Candidates are Karen Bryant (incumbent), Kathy Schlimm and Matt Craine.
Park Hill School District has a school board election. Three candidates are vying for two open seats. Candidates are Brandy Maltbia Woodley, Harrison Todd and Sadie Peterson.
Northland Regional Ambulance District is proposing to nearly double its current tax levy. If approved, the ballot question would authorize raising the tax levy by 30 cents, from its current .3792 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to .6792.
Central Platte Fire Protection District has two matters on the ballot. A question whether to increase its number of directors from three to five. And the other matter is an election for up to four members of the board of directors. Candidates for the positions are (vote for up to four) Aaron Jung (incumbent), Steve McCullough (incumbent), Dan Laxson, Christopher Columbus, Robert O’Dell, and Adam Roudebush.
Dearborn Fire Protection District has a contested race for a director position between Pat Downing (incumbent) and Clinton D. Rhodes.
City of Edgerton has a contested race for alderman at-large. Four candidates are vying for two open spots: James Bosch, Vikki Kidwell, Candice Guyer and Charlene Cook.
City of Lake Waukomis has a contested race for alderman in the first ward between Guy Groves and Bob Shinogle.
City of Weatherby Lake has two contested positions. Alderman in the west ward will be a race between Paula Ann York and Eugene Richard Footer. Alderman in the east ward is between Tanya Kaye Finn and Tyler Patterson.
City of Weston voters will make a decision for ward two alderman between Joyce Burch and Jerry Gross.
Water Supply District No. 8 of Platte County has a ballot question for $10 million in revenue bonds for the purpose of extending and improving the waterworks system of the district.