ELECTION UPDATES: Three newcomers win Columbia Board of Education seats
LINK: Full election results
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
UPDATE 9:25 P.M.: Cooper County has counted all of its 1,342 ballots.
Ryan Rapp and Emily Shikles won the two seats up for election on the Boonville Board of Education. Cooper County voters, like those in other Mid-Missouri counties, also approved a 4% sales tax on recreational marijuana.
UPDATE 9:10 P.M. The Columbia Board of Education will have three new faces when it reconvenes.
April Ferrao, John Lyman and Paul Harper won three seats on the board, with incumbent Chris Horn coming in fifth.
Boone County and Columbia voters each approved a 3% sales tax on marijuana.
Don Waterman claimed a narrow victory in the 10 precincts that make up the Fifth Ward of the Columbia City Council, 1,908-1,850.
Centralia elected Chris Cox as mayor by a large margin.
The voters in the Boone County Fire Protection District approved an $8 million bond issue. Most of the money will go toward a new fire station on the southern outskirts of Columbia.
Karen Kraus Bill, Amy Beggemann and former superintendent Chris Felmlee won seats on the Southern Boone Board of Education.
The county clerk reported 22% turnout with 26,817 votes cast.
UPDATE 8:45 P.M.: Callaway County voters have approved their 3% sales tax on marijuana, as well.
Voters approved the measure with 72% of ballots cast in favor of the tax.
Former police chief Steve Myers will be the next Fulton mayor, emerging from a four-person race with the victory.
Voters in Fulton, Kingdom City and Holts Summit also approved marijuana sales taxes.
UPDATE 8:30 P.M.: The Fifth Ward Columbia City Council race has swung back toward Don Waterman and away from Gregg Bush.
With 70% of precincts reporting, Waterman was ahead of Bush by about 200 votes in the city's more-conservative and well-heeled ward.
Positions have shifted in the Columbia Board of Education race with 27 of 41. April Ferrao, Paul Harper and John Lyman held the top three spots but former Republican state representative and frequent school district critic Chuck Basye had climbed into fourth place.
UPDATE 8:20 P.M.: Voters in Cole County and Jefferson City overwhelmingly passed 3% sales taxes on marijuana Tuesday night.
In Cole County, the tax won 63% to 27%, with nearly 6,700 votes in favor. The margin was similar in Jefferson City, winning with 74% of the vote.
Scott Hovis, Brad Bates and Suzanne Luther won the three seats up in the Jefferson City Board of Education race. And voters approved the $85 million bond issue known as Proposition KIDS FIRST. The bond issue was approved 5,361-2,479.
Jeff Ahlers, Aaron Mealy and Scott Spencer won contested Jefferson City Council seats.
The Village of Centertown recorded a tie in its parks tax vote, with 22 voting yes and 22 voting no.
Cole County turnout was 17%, with 9,316 ballots cast.
UPDATE 8:15 P.M.: The two candidates who have frequently challenged the Columbia Board of Education from the right are trailing with about a quarter of the precincts in.
Chuck Basye and John Potter were last among the seven-candidate field with 1,723 and 1,479 votes respectively. April Ferrao, Paul Harper and John Lyman were in the lead for the three seats up on the board.
Gregg Bush opened up a lead of Don Waterman in Columbia's Fifth Ward with 40% of the precincts in.
And like voters in Cole County and Jefferson City, voters in Boone County and Columbia remained on their way to approving sales taxes on marijuana.
The Boone County Fire Protection District's $8 million bond issue had 639 yes votes to 109 no votes but only three of 17 precincts were in.
UPDATE 8 P.M.: Jefferson City residents appear poised to approve a 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana.
With 60% of precincts reporting, 2,451 votes had been cast in favor of the tax and 768 against it. The vote for the Cole County tax was similar, with 2,709 votes for and 1,029 votes against, with about 35% of precincts reporting.
With about 42% of precincts reporting, Brad Bates, Scott Hovis and Suzanne Luther held the top three spots in Jefferson City's school board race.
One race for Jefferson City Council is already decided, with Scott Spencer winning the Third Ward seat over Treaka Young with 100% of precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:45 P.M.: Brad Bates holds a narrow lead in the Jefferson City Board of Education race among absentee votes.
Cole County residents cast 738 absentee ballots during Missouri's new no-excuse absentee voting period. Among those ballots were 520 in support of a county 3% sales tax on marijuana compared to 204 against it. Yes votes for a Jefferson City sales tax on pot also had a comfortable lead among absentee voters.
The Jefferson City School District's $85 million bond issue also enjoyed a strong lead among absentee voters, 433-224.
UPDATE 7:30 P.M.: Absentee ballots are in for Boone County.
Nearly 2,500 absentee ballots were cast as part of Missouri's new no-excuse absentee balloting. That's out of nearly 123,000 registered voters.
April Ferrao took the highest number of absentee votes in the Columbia Board of Education race with Paul Harper second and John Lyman third.
Absentee voters overwhelmingly approved a sales tax on marijuana, as did Columbia absentee voters. Gregg Bush had a small lead in the Columbia City Council Ward 5 race.
2:30 p.m. A Columbia polling place was locked down Tuesday afternoon because of police activity in the area, according to a social media message from the county clerk's office.
The incident happened at about 2 p.m. and the polling place reopened about 20 minutes later. The clerk's office gave no other details about the nature of the police activity but said the pooling place at Forum Boulevard Christian Church, near Forum and Nifong Boulevard, was temporarily put on lockdown.
Voters who would normally vote at Forum should go to Woodcrest Chapel instead, the county clerk says.
Check back for updates to this story.
