In six days, Barry County voters who select a Republican ballot in the Primary Election will have their say in 10 contested races for local, state and national positions.
While all the state and national winners on the GOP ballots will have Democrat opponents — including our state house and state senate districts — for the three contested races locally, Tuesday represents the culmination of a long and arduous campaign season with no opponents waiting in the wings.
County Clerk Joyce Ennis confirmed this week she had no late filings, meaning the winners of the Republican Primary in the sheriff, northern commissioner and coroner races will be the presumed winners in the General Election in November.
Interest in county races has been higher than any other time in my 10 years coving Barry County politics.
The race for sheriff has drawn most of the attention, even more so than the 2016 primary that had seven Republicans and one Democrat on the ballot. Four Republicans will appear on Tuesday’s list — Challengers Mike McGuire, Randy Kalbaugh and James Morgan, and incumbent Danny Boyd — though one (McGuire) suspended his campaign earlier this summer.
Incumbent Gary Schad faces challenger Gary Klossing for northern commissioner, and incumbent Gary Swearingen is being challenged by former longtime officeholder Skip White for coroner.
In the Cassville Democrat over the last two months, I have done my best to provide issue-driven content voters can use to separate candidates from one another and make the best decisions at the polls.
I’ve printed four sheriff questionnaires totaling 21 questions, two northern commissioner questionnaires totaling 10 questions, and one 6-question coroner questionnaire. I have also written two campaign finance stories for the sheriff race, and a third will be published online later this week, too late for our print deadline.
Beyond print, I organized and hosted and live streamed candidate forums for the sheriff and northern commissioner races, and I also wrote follow- up stories on each.
As I told a friend the other day who said he didn’t know much about the candidates, I don’t think there’s much else I can do to our readers more informed.
For those who are keeping up with the races, some of the interest can be attributed to behind-the-scenes drama. At points — many of them — each of the county races have become downright nasty.
I made a decision very early on to avoid all the nonsense and stick to the issues. I hope that unbiased and fair coverage helped people choose their votes based on the future and not whatever the gossip of the week happened to be, and whether it was true or not.
While I avoided any wading in the muck, which seemed to chase me at times, I do hope the increased interest combined with my coverage will help boost voter turnout. I’m a firm believer if you do not vote, you don’t get to complain about the results.
Barry County voter turnout in primary races in the last dozen years has averaged in the low 30% range, except in 2022 when only 26% cast ballots.
If the average turnout holds, that means one-third of the county will choose winners for the other two-thirds of voters who do not exercise their right to a say in our Democracy.
Even in November elections, only presidential election years bring out voters. The average for 2012, 2016 and 2020 was 70%, and the average in 2014, 2018 and 2022 was 49%.
We won’t even get into how municipal turnout has only topped 15% once since 2012 — frankly, that saddens me.
National elections get the majority of the votes, but local elections are the most impactful to your every day life.
Very few of us ever interact with a president, but many of us will at some point talk to the sheriff about an issue our community is facing, or a county commissioner about the same. The coroner may not be an elected position you think about, but that person is charged with interacting with our neighbors, family and friends in some of the most difficult times in their lives.
If you are registered to vote, I urge you to educate yourself on the candidates in these races, form an opinion based on your research and award those candidates votes they have worked hard to attain.
The future of Barry County is in your hands — so handle it!
Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he is a twotime ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville-democrat. com.
