Just five months after a presidential election that saw more than 60 percent of Crawford County voters cast ballots, Don Pyle said the county would be lucky to see half that total.
Pyle estimated that about 25 percent of Crawford County voters would turn out for today’s City and School Board General Election.
“You would like to see more,” said Pyle, Crawford County Clerk. “But that’s a pretty good turnout for city-school elections.”
The voters who do turn out should have a smoother time casting votes, Pyle said. In November, a glitch on a programming card tallied votes in some races incorrectly, eventually forcing a machine, then hand, recount of ballots in the Crawford County Attorney’s race. Pyle said his office was more careful in programming this go-round.
“We did a lot more extensive testing and training this time around,” Pyle said. “Our testing was designed to catch some of the problems that went undetected on the programming the last time.”
Pyle said his office also stepped up the number of ballots tested, from a couple hundred ballots to more than 1,100.
Two groups of voters will have extra questions to decide. Frontenac residents will vote on whether to continue a half-cent sales tax that is scheduled to sunset this year, while Girard voters will vote on a charter ordinance dealing with mayoral appointments.
“There’s some interest in the questions,” Pyle said. “But I think we have even more interest in some very competitive races. If you’re in Pittsburg, Frontenac or Girard, you can see signs all over the road.
“I hope everybody gets out and votes for the candidate of their choice and we have a really good turnout,” Pyle said.
Several races will be decided by write-ins with no candidates listed for the positions. Those races include Hepler mayor, Hepler City Council (which has five spots open), Walnut City Council positions 1, 3 and 5 and Northeast USD 246 Position 6. In addition, only one person has applied for McCune City Council, and there are two openings.
City candidates for election today include:
• Rudy Draper, Marty Beezley, Patrick O’Bryan, Tina Smith, John Ketterman, Connie McGeorge and Ed McCullough for Pittsburg City Commission.
• James Kennedy for Frontenac Mayor; John Zafuta for Frontenac Treasurer; James Loth and David Chiappetti for the First Ward City Council seat; Patricia Clinton, Jack Southard and Frank Papish for the Second Ward seat; Charley Quenoy for the Third Ward seat and A.J. Menghini for the Fourth Ward seat.
