By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
Sheriff race unofficially decided by 48 votes
Republican incumbents for county positions held their ground on Aug. 6, as Sheriff Danny Boyd, Northern Commissioner Gary Schad and Coroner Gary Swearingen all won GOP bids to be unchallenged in the General Election in November.
In total, 7,314 ballots were cast, representing 32.51% of the county’s 22,497 voters. Of that total, 6,719 voted Republican, 565 voted Democratic, 23 votes non-partisan and 7 voted Libertarian.
The hotly-contested four-man race for sheriff — which only appeared on the Republican ballot — boiled down to a pair of contenders among the 6,626 votes.
Boyd received 3,090 votes (46.63%) to Morgan’s 3,042 votes (45.91%), while Mike McGuire, who suspended his campaign in June received 321 votes (4.85%), and challenger Randy Kalbaugh received 173 (2.81%).
Results were verified on Friday at County Clerk Joyce Ennis’ Office. The verification, completed by a bipartisan team, requires the county to hand-count at least 5% of the number of precincts. With 15 in Barry County, the requirement is met by verifying just one precinct, which accounts for 6.6% of the 15.
To complete the verification, the vote sheet from each precinct is laid face down on a table, and the verification team picks one at random. Ennis said Wheaton was selected. The precinct has 1,094 total registered voters, and 298 ballots were cast.
Ennis said the county was exact for all races, though the sheriff race had one question.
“One ballot was marked awkwardly with an ‘X’ instead of filled in,” Ennis said. “After two manual recounts and running through the machine again, that vote was left how the machine read it, which was for [James] Morgan.”
Three military ballots were also counted, with all three votes going to Boyd.
On Aug. 6, unofficial results were being announced at the Barry County Courthouse as precincts were tallied, and Morgan held a lead over Boyd for nearly the whole night, including 541 ahead after 6 of 15 precincts reported. After that point, the difference fell to 305 at 8 precincts, 232 at 10 precincts and 259 at 12 precincts.
Boyd’s biggest gains came in Monett City/Monett Rural/Capps Creek, 446-155; Purdy/McDowell, 333-128; and Kings Prairie/Pleasant Ridge, 188-60. Morgan’s best precincts were Washburn/Ash, 385-63; Cassville City/Rural/Mineral, 810-523; and Seligman, 194-39. Each candidate won seven precincts apiece, and Boyd edged Morgan in the absentee votes, 281-201.
In the order they were announced at the Barry County Courthouse, Morgan led 2,694 to 2,435 when Ozark/Crane Creek closed the gap to 105 (2,774-2,669), still in Morgan’s favor. Shell Knob was the turning point, with Boyd getting 276 votes to Morgan’s 169 to take a 2-vote edge, 2,945-2-943.
The final precinct, Golden, secured the incumbent’s win, with Boyd taking 142 votes to Morgan’s 99 for the unofficial 3,087-3,042 total.
“It was a long battle, and I’m glad my supporters backed me and my campaign group ran a clean race,” Boyd said. “Voters have faith the next four years is going to be better, and I want to get to work making it better than the first four. The new jail will help with that tremendously. We hope to put people in and they stay in.”
On the margin of victory, Boyd said he knew the race would be close.
“James campaigned hard, and we campaigned hard,” he said. “It was down to the nitty-gritty, and we expected it to be tight. We knew [it would get closer] when we got to some areas we were more comfortable with, like Monett and Shell Knob, and it was a relief to see those numbers come in.”
Looking forward, Boyd said he intends to get working toward completing goals laid out in the campaign.
“We’re getting more officers,” he said. “We have four starting the Academy on Aug. 19, and we have one in the academy now at Reeds Spring who will finish up in late November or early December,” Boyd said. “That’s five new people that will help us fill the night shift and fight crime better. We also have some drug cases we’re working on.”
Ultimately, Boyd said his win is a credit to his supporters.
“Thank you to those who stood behind me and my campaign group who was there the whole way,” he said. “Without them, I would not be where I am. And, most of all, thanks to the good Lord above for pulling us through.”
Morgan said he’s still coming to terms with the runner-up finish after winning in the precinct-by-precinct count most of the evening.
“He won, and he can have it,” Morgan said. “I’ll see him in four years.”
Kalbaugh also said he plans to file again at the next opportunity.
“I’m upset with the result.” he said. “It’s not the way I thought it would turn out for me. I do plan on running again. I will try a different approach and I hope people in Barry County are ready for change.”
With the margin of the victory not exceeding 1%, the runner-up, within five business days, may request a recount. There are no automatic recounts in Missouri. The runner-up must file for the recount at the office of Barry County Circuit Clerk Craig Williams, and a judge will determine if a recount is necessary. The judge will also decide whether the recount is by machine or by hand, decide if the requestor or the county will pay for the effort, and appoint counters to perform the task.
Morgan said he is being urged to request one, but has not come to a final decision.
“Everyone wants me to, but I don’t know,” he said. “I’m still trying to swallow how I lost when I was up by 800 votes at one time. I’ve never seen anything like that happen, but I guess it’s possible.”
Northern Commissioner
In the race for northern commissioner, Schad tallied 1,760 votes (69.43%) to challenger Gary Klossing’s 775 votes (30.57%). Schad won all seven precincts and absentee ballots in the race, running away with the total in the Monett City/Monett Rural/Capps Creek precinct with a split of 544-136.
“I thought it went really good,” Schad said. “I thought the residents spoke volumes. With Gene not having a challenger and my win by a sizable margin, I think that says the people of Barry County like what we are doing and want us to keep doing more.
“Thank you to everyone who got out to vote and supported me.”
Klossing said he is not upset with the result and is proud of the effort he made for change.
“I tried to make a difference and a change, and it did not work out,” he said. “[Schad] may be a great guy, but he’s not what I think a northern commissioner needs to be. Everyone said they wanted change, and they had two opportunities.”
Klossing said he does not intent to run for northern commissioner again.
Schad said moving forward, the move into the new jail and 2025 budget are at the top of his checklist.
“I’ve never been part of anything like this [with the jail switch],” he said. “So, there will be a learning curve going from one facility to another. Secondly, we are getting ready for budget season, so we will go through the current budget and see where we can make improvements and keep the county moving forward.”
Schad said the jail transition is scheduled for mid-October, and the health department is set to move into its new building by the end of August.
Coroner
For coroner, Swearingen earned 4,028 votes (62.63%) to challenger Skip White’s 2,403 (37.37%). White gained favor in the Kings Prairie/Pleasant Ridge and Seligman precincts, but Swearingen won all others, performing especially well in Cassville City/Rural/Mineral with a 997-366 tally.
“I felt pretty good,” Swearingen said. I appreciate the people who voted for me and continue to put their trust in me to continue serving as Barry County coroner for another four years.”
White said he does not plan to run for coroner again.
“The county spoke,” he said.
District No. 29 State Senator
In the State Senator District No. 29 race, incumbent Mike Moon defeated challenger Susan Haralson, winning 22,392 votes (77.20%) to Haralson’s 6,612 votes (22.79%).
