Christian County voters delivered a resounding “No” to the controversial Missouri Constitutional Amendments Four and Five during the primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 4. In the county, 14,800 voters, or 73.28 percent, cast “No” votes against Amendment Four, while 5,396 voters, or 26.72 percent, voted for it. Meanwhile, 15,933 voters, or 78.86 percent, cast votes against Amendment Five, while 4,270 voters, or 21.14 percent, voted in favor of it.
The results in Christian County regarding Amendments Four and Five mirrored the statewide election results. In Missouri, 1,122,748 voters, or about 80.3 percent, cast “No” votes against Amendment Four, while 275,040 voters, or about 19.7 percent, cast votes in favor of it. Missouri voters also rejected Amendment Five, which received 1,165,085 “No” votes, or about 83.32 percent, and 233,309 “Yes” votes, or about 16.68 percent.
Amendment Four would have required a majority of voters in each of the state’s congressional districts to approve citizen-initiated amendments to the State’s constitution, as opposed to the simple majority currently required. Amendment Five would have eliminated the current state income tax and replaced it with a sales tax.
Amendments One and Two pass:
While rejecting Amendments Four and Five, Christian County voters did overwhelmingly approve of Amendments One and Two. Amendment One, which renewed a one-tenth of a one percent sales/use tax that is used for water and soil conservation and for state parks and historic sites, received 16,037 “Yes” votes, or 79.92 percent, and 4,029 “No” votes, or 20.08 percent. Statewide, 1,141,865 voters, or 82.29 percent, cast votes in favor of Amendment One, while 245,778 voters, or 17.71 percent, voted against it.
Amendment Two, which requires “all charter counties, including Jackson County, to provide for the election of a county assessor; and require assessors in all charter counties to comply with any training requirements established by general law,” received 15,693 “Yes” votes, or 79.63 percent, while 4,015 voters cast “No” votes, or 20.37 percent. Statewide, 1,042,413 Missouri voters, or about 76.92 percent, cast “Yes” votes for Amendment Two, while 312,713 voters, or 23.08 percent, voted against the Amendment.
Taylor wins Republican nomination for Christian County Presiding Commissioner:
Locally, Jered Taylor won the Republican nomination for Christian County Presiding Commissioner, receiving 8,459 votes, or 62.31 percent, while Terry BIble won 5,116 votes, or 37.69 percent. Winning the nomination practically assures Taylor will be the next presiding commissioner, as there are no other party candidates running for the seat, meaning that Taylor will most likely run unopposed in November.
Statewide election results:
Christian County voters also cast votes to decide which candidates would run as the Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian candidates in other elections in November.
For U.S. Representative, District 7, Christian County voters chose Incumbent Eric Burlison to be the Republican candidate. Burlison won 10,820 votes, or 76.49 percent. Challenger John Casey won 1,641 votes, or 11.6 votes, and Grayson Hunt won 1,684 votes, or 11.91 percent. Statewide, Burlison won 76,021 votes, or about 73.78 percent, to win the Republican nomination. Casey won 13,422 votes, or about 13.03 percent, while Hunt received 13,590 votes, or 13.2 percent. Democratic candidate Missi Hesketh and Libertarian candidate Kevin Craig were unopposed.
In the race for State Auditor, incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick was chosen by Christian County voters to run as the Republican candidate. He received 10,997 votes, or 84.63 percent, while challenger Gerald Wistrand, Jr. received 1,997 votes, or 15.37 percent. Statewide, Fitzpatrick won 549,997 votes, or 85.54 percent, while Wistrand received 93,012 votes, or 14.46 percent.
Locally, voters chose Quentin Wilson as the Democratic candidate; he received 2,061 votes, or 64.47 percent, while Gregory Upchurch won 1,136 votes, or 35.53 percent. Statewide, Wilson won the nomination with 325,648 votes, or 67.84 percent, while Upchurch won 154,346 votes, or 32.16 percent. Libertarian candidate Dustin Coffell was unopposed.
Other local results:
In the race for State Representative, District 138, Christian County voters chose Incumbent Burt Whaley for the Republican candidate, giving him 1,651 votes, or 76.65 percent, while challenger Tom Franiak received 503 votes, or 23.35 percent. In Stone and Christian Counties combined, Whaley received 6,212 votes, or 77.46 percent, while Franiak received 1,808 votes, or 22.54 percent. Democratic candidate Chris Daugherty was unopposed.
In the race for State Representative, District 139, Christian County voters chose Bob Titus to run as the Republican candidate. He won 3,268 votes, or 54 percent, while challenger Sandy Karnes won 2,782 votes, or about 46 percent.
In the race for State Representative, District 140, Jamie Ray Gragg won the Republican nomination, receiving 3,596 votes, or 62.77 percent, while challenger Angela Romine won 2,133 votes, or 37.23 percent. Democratic candidate Julie Curran was unopposed.
In Nixa, the voters narrowly approved a ballot issue proposed by the Nixa Fire Protection District, authorizing a one percent sales tax to provide revenue for the district. The ballot issue also “reduces property tax revenues by an amount equal to fifty percent of the previous year’s revenue collected from this sales tax.” The issue received 3,616 “Yes” votes, or 51.89 percent, while 3,352 Nixa voters, or 48.11 percent, cast votes against it.
Election results are unofficial until they are certified by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
In the election, 20,302 votes, representing 29.14 percent of the 69,667 registered Christian County voters, were cast. Complete Christian County election results can be viewed online at the Christian County Clerk Office’s website at www.christiancountymo.gov/offices/county-clerk, under the “Election Results” tab.
