I’ve been saying it for months at this point — I could write a book about the sheriff race in the Republican Primary Election.
I feel like Bill Hader’s Saturday Night Live character, Stefon. “This election had everything: baseless accusations, questionable accusations, true accusations and a final result that juxtaposed the joy of victory and agony of defeat on the courthouse lawn.”
The climax of any future book wrote itself on Aug. 6, when more than 100 people at the Barry County Courthouse had their emotions twisted inside out as the final precincts were announced.
Of the four candidates on the ballot, only two were in true contention: incumbent sheriff Danny Boyd and challenger James Morgan, criminal investigator in Delaware County, Okla.
As geography tends to have its effect in Barry County elections, Morgan took a sizable early lead, up by more than 500 votes about halfway into the announcements from County Clerk Joyce Ennis’ office.
Performing exceptionally well in the closest precincts, including Cassville/Cassville Rural/Mineral, Seligman and Washburn (the first to arrive at the clerk’s office), Morgan’s lead came on fast and faded away slow.
By the 13th of 15 precincts, Boyd had cut it to almost 100, boosted by big margins in Monett City/Monett Rural/Capps Creek and his hometown precinct, Purdy/ McDowell. Shell Knob flipped the count to Boyd’s favor by 2 votes, and Golden secured him the win by 45 votes unofficially. The difference grew to 48 after provisional ballots were counted.
It was a comeback for the books, and with the margin of just 0.71% among the 6,626 total votes, it brought with it an avalanche of questions. The situation was reminiscent of the sheriff race in the 2016 Republican Primary.
Seven Republicans ran in that contest, with former sheriff, the late Gary Davis, besting former state trooper Travis Hilburn by 65 votes, despite Hilburn leading the race a month prior according to a Cassville Democratsponsored poll.
Davis raked in a mere 24% of votes in that Republican Primary, and he went on to landslide Dave Ruark, who filed unchallenged in the Democratic Primary, by a 71-29% margin.
After that election, many of the same questions were asked as this year. Would there be a recount? Why is there not a run-off? How can less than a quarter of the county’s voters essentially elect the next sheriff?
They are fair questions, and they still have simple answers.
First, some election process background is necessary, as there seemed to be confusion on how the Primary Election process works in Missouri.
Primaries are party-specific and a precursor to the General Election. Those running for county office must declare a party, and each party has its own ballot. This go-around, voters had the option to choose a Republican ballot, a Democratic ballot, a Libertarian ballot or a non-partisan ballot.
The winners from each of those ballots then represent their parties in the General Election, where they face winners from the other party primaries.
In Barry County, speaking frankly, filing with any party other than Republican is the easiest way to lose. If you don’t believe me, just ask Ruark. The conservative stronghold discourages Democrats to file, thus limiting voters to just the primaries to decide county races.
In the case of this sheriff race and the razor-thin margin, Missouri does not have automatic recounts. If the runner-up loses by 1% or less, the candidate can request a recount with the circuit court within five business days of certification, which occurred on Friday. A judge will then determine if it is warranted, if it will be a machine or hand recount, and who will fund the process.
Morgan has through the week’s end to make a recount request. It would be the most shocking chapter of a book if the 48-vote difference were flipped in a recount. It’s rather unlikely at least 25 of Boyd’s votes were misread by the machine and belong to Morgan.
This isn’t a presidential election relying on the whole of Florida or Georgia — all a recount would provide is closure and confirmation of the result.
Considering runoff elections, only nine states conduct runoffs in party primaries, and in Missouri, the only time a runoff occurs is in a tie. Ideally, we would like for the winner of an election to receive the majority of the votes —50% or more — which is guaranteed with a two-candidate race.
This year’s winner came close, but still, more people overall voted against Boyd than for him. In Missouri, the highest number wins, and Boyd deserves congratulations for running a winning campaign.
Sixty-two jurisdictions in the U.S. use ranked-choice voting, where voters rank the candidates from first to last. Then, if the top two candidates do not reach 50%, the lowest candidate is removed and those votes are distributed according to the rankings on those ballots. The process continues until one candidate reaches the threshold.
Both those options are fine, but they also cost extra money I do not see the state or county jumping up and down to spend. For now, there’s one election with one result. Like it or not, it’s fair.
Congratulations deservedly go to Boyd for his win, and even more kudos go to Ennis’ office. With the high level of interest in this election, Ennis conducted the process and her office with precision and honor. She had one job to do — count the votes — and she did it well.
Morgan also deserves compliments, first for the exceptional campaign he ran, and second for waiting no more than five minutes before shaking Boyd’s hand after the final result was announced. He even walked away from a verbal jab muttered by one Boyd’s supporters.
I commend Morgan for taking the high road in that moment, and I also commend Boyd for immediately demanding class from his camp.
As we move forward with Boyd as the presumed sheriff-elect, going unchallenged in the November General Election — where turnout will likely be more than double the turnout at the Primary — the question we need to be asking is how can we get back to being neighbors and friends, working together for a better Barry County.
This election has divided so many of us, and we won’t succeed in any way if the petty bickering lingers.
Whether you are happy with the result or not, the next four years is where our eyes need to be fixed. Let’s make Barry County better.
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 two-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com.
