With all precincts in and only the absentee ballots left to be counted, incumbent Sheri◊Robert Evenson led challenger Mike Hall by eight votes - 3,453 to 3,445.
But of the 823 absentee ballots that were cast, Hall received 472 votes to Evenson’s 351 to claim a 3,917 to 3,804 (50.65 to 49.19 percent) majority.
Evenson is used to close races. He defeated Gregg Sweeten in 2008by just 18 votes for his second term. Evenson was elected to his first term as sheri◊in 2000, defeating Don Schlessman by 226 votes. Four years later Schlessman reversed the order, winning by a margin of 151 votes.
This was Hall’s first attempt at public office. He has served as a deputy in McDonald County both under Schlessman and Evenson. He is currently the resource o◊cer for the McDonald County School District.
In the only other race for county o◊ce, David Holloway defeated Nadine (Shearwood) Sexson 2,746 to 664 for Western Commissioner. Holloway had defeated incumbent Ronnie Walker in the August primary.
The race for Eastern Commissioner was also decided in the primary when challenger John Bunch defeated incumbent Sam Gaskill. Bunch had no opposition in Tuesday’s election.
In the one ballot issue that was exclusive to McDonald County, voters terminated the McDonald County Planning Commission by a vote of 4,383 to 2,715.
Local candidates running unopposed and their vote totals were David Sater, State Senate District 29, 6,575 McDonald County, 63,959 total; Bill Lant, State Representative District 159, 6,621 McDonald County, 11,340 total; Timothy W. Perigo, Circuit Judge, 6,653 McDonald County, 28661 total; John Bunch, Eastern Commissioner, 3,529; Laura Pope, Assessor, 6,775; Donna Underwood, Public Administrator, 6,651; B.J. Goodwin, Coroner, 6,766; Travis Green Surveyor, 6,615.
Local totals for stateand national races are as follows:
◊President and Vice President - Obama/Biden 1,920; Romney/Ryan 5,694; Johnson/Gray 161; Goode/Clymer 42;
◊U.S. Senator - Claire McCaskill 2,644; Todd Akin 4,667; Jonathan Dine 470. McCaskill defeated Akin by a margin of 1,484,683 to 1,063,698.
◊Governor - Jeremiah Nixon 2,564; David Spence 4,823; Jim Higgins 359; Nixon won reelection by a margin of 1,485,147 to 1,157,475 for Spence.
◊Lieutenant Governor - Susan Montee 1,830; Peter Kinder 5,248; Matthew Copple 327; Cynthia Davis 198; Kinder defeated Montee by 1,316,655 to 1,211,352.
◊Secretary of State - Jason Kander 2,017; Shane Schoeller 5,067; Cisse W. Spragins 312; Justin Harter 127; Kander defeated Schoeller by a margin of 1,289,655 to 1,256,035.
◊Treasurer - Clint Zweifel 1,838; Cole McNary 5,187; Sean O’Toole 459; Zweifel defeated McNary by 1,324,489 to 1,197,451.
◊Attorney General - Chris Koster 2,562; Ed Martin 4,545; Dave Browning 466; Koster defeated Martin by 1,482,381 to 1,081,510.
◊U.S. Representative 7th District - Jim Evans 1,883;Billy Long 5,363; Kevin Craig 357; Long won over Evans by a vote of 203,358 to 98,384.
Results of statewide ballot issues are as follows:
◊Amendment 3 (Judges)- Yes 2011, No 5,190. State totals: Yes 606,063, No 1,921,868;
◊Proposition A (St. Louis) - Yes 4,587, No 2,507. State totals: Yes 1,610,427, No910,295;
◊Proposition B (tobacco Tax) - Yes 2,168, No 5,429. State totals: Yes 1,314,856, No 1,357,437;
◊Proposition E ( Healthcare Exchanges) - Yes 4,993, No 2,231. State totals: Yes 1,567,816, No 970,924.
A total of 7,916 ballots were cast resulting in a turnout of 60.3 percent.
News, Pages 1 on 11/08/2012