Federal, state, county offices to be determined by voters on Tuesday, Nov. 6
Three competing ballot measures related to medical marijuana, a gas tax increase for road maintenance, and a variety of open federal and state legislative seats will make for a lengthy ballot when voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Absentee voting continues this week.
The Jasper County Clerk’s offices in the Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage and the Courts Building in Joplin will be open from 8 a.m.-noon this Saturday, Nov. 3, to give people who won’t be available on Tuesday, Nov. 6, another chance to cast absentee ballots.
Polls will open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, and will remain open until 7 p.m. for regular voting.
Jasper County Clerk Marilyn Baugh said misleading text and social media messages from some of the campaigns are causing confusion among voters and headaches for her office as absentee voting continues.
“One thing that’s causing issues is text messages that voters are getting from the GOP and President Trump telling them that early voting is open in Missouri,” Baugh said. “We have to tell people that Missouri doesn’t have early voting, it has absentee voting, and there are five reasons that a voter in Missouri can vote absentee. We had one man in today saying he wanted to vote early, and when I told him Missouri doesn’t have early voting, he got mad.
“Also, voters are getting texts saying they need to call the Clerk’s office and make sure we got their absentee vote. It’s taking our clerks a lot of time to deal with those calls.”
Baugh said voters need to be prepared to take some time in the voting booth with a ballot that covers both the front and back of the page and has seven detailed ballot issues and 20 offices to decide.
Issues
Voters will see three measures that will make medical marijuana legal in Missouri, but vary widely as to how it is taxed, where the tax proceeds go and how marijuana sales and possession will be regulated.
• Constitutional Amendments 2 and 3 and Proposition B all legalize the medical use of marijuana to treat chronic pain and other problems in different ways.
The website https://ballotpedia.org/Missouri_2018_ballot_measures has a detailed examination of the three issues.
Ballotpedia says if all three measures pass, the constitutional amendments would trump the proposition, and the amendment with the largest number of yes votes would be approved.
Ballotpedia also says in a similar in a similar situation regarding tobacco tax initiatives, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office said the issue would be decided in court.
• Constitutional Amendment 1 would change the way legislative districts are drawn after every U.S. Census every 10 years by creating a non-partisan state demographer to draw maps, that would then be examined and possibly amended by the commissions that currently draw those maps.
It would also change campaign finance and lobbying policies related to state legislators and legislative employees.
• Constitutional Amendment 4 changes rules dealing with bingo and bingo operations.
• Proposition B raises the state minimum wage by 85 cents a year until it reaches $12 an hour in 2023.
• Proposition D raises the state’s gasoline tax by two and a half cents a year for the next four years to generate more money for state law enforcement.
Offices
Voters will cast ballots in races for public office on the federal, state and county level.
Of the 20 offices up for grabs, 15 are county races where the nominee from the August primary faces no opposition or they are state judgeships where voters are ask to vote yes or no on two Missouri Supreme Court judges and one State Court of Appeals judge.
Elections where more than one candidate is seeking an office are on the federal and state levels.
• For U.S. Senate from Missouri, Republican Josh Hawley and Democrat Incumbent Claire McCaskill are facing off in a heated campaign, but there are other candidates for that office on the ballot as well.
Japeth Campbell is running for Senate under the Libertarian banner, Jo Crain is running as the Green Party candidate and Craig O’Dear is running as an independent.
• For Seventh District U.S. House, Republican Incumbent Billy Long is running against Democrat Jamie Daniel Schoolcraft and Independent Benjamin T. Brixey.
• For Missouri Auditor, Republican Saundra McDowell faces Democrat Incumbent Nicole Galloway, Libertarian Sean O’Tool, Green Party Candidate Don Fitz and Constitution Party Candidate Jacob Luetkemeyer.
• For State Senator in the 32nd District, replacing the incumbent Ron Richard who will leave because of term limits, Republican State Rep. Bill White faces Democrat Carolyn McGowan and Green Party Candidate Conon Gillis.
Voters in Carthage will see one of these two choices for State Representative on the ballot depending on where they live in the city.
• For State Representative from the 163rd District, representing almost all of Carthage, Carterville and parts of Webb City and Carl Junction, Republican Incumbent Cody Smith faces Democrat Chad Fletcher.
• For State Representative from the 127th District, representing a few homes in east Carthage, much of rural Jasper County including Sarcoxie and Jasper, and Barton and Dade counties, Republican Ann Kelley is running against Democrat Teri Hanna. The incumbent for this seat, Mike Kelley of Lamar, is barred from reelection because of term limits.
