Up-to-Date Election Information

By: Tara Blue
Local elections will be held on April 2nd and polling places will be open from 6:00am to 7:00pm. The election includes Municipalities, Boards of Education, Alderman, Bonds, & County.

All Boone County voters may absentee vote from now until 5:00pm on Monday, April 1st at the Boone County Clerk’s Office in the Boone County Government Center, 801 E. Walnut St., Rm 236, Columbia, MO 65201. The clerk’s office is open 8am to 5pm during the week and 9am to 1pm on March 30. The clerk’s office will also conduct in-person absentee voting at the Southern Boone County Public Library & Centralia Public Library on the 30th.

Check your voter registration and find your polling place on the Boone County Clerk’s website here.

To vote in person, you need to present one of the following forms of ID:
• Missouri Driver license that is not expired;
• Missouri Nondriver’s license that is not expired or does not have an expiration date;
• U.S. Passport that is not expired;
• Military ID that is not expired or does not have an expiration date; or,
• A document issued by the United States or state of Missouri that includes your photograph and name that matches your voter registration record. (This document must not be expired or, if it is expired, it expired after the date of the most recent general election).

If you do not have one of the IDs above, you can still vote by casting a blue provisional ballot, which will be counted if you come back to your polling location before the close of polls on Election Day with your ID or if your signature matches the signature on file on the voter registration record.

Hartsburg: The Village of Hartsburg Board of Trustees will have two seats up for election. The seats are currently held by Tim Hentz and Bruce Begemann and they are both seeking re-election. They ask Hartsburg voters to write-in their names.

Ashland: The elected positions expiring this year in Ashland are:
• Loren Plank (Ward I)
• Melissa Old (Ward II)
• Rick Lewis (Ward III)
• Mayor Dorise Slinker

The candidates who filed for the elected positions in Ashland are:
• Kristen Colbert (Ward II)
• Rick Lewis (Ward III)
• Loren Plank for Mayor
• Dorise Slinker for Mayor

Ward I expiring position did not have an applicant. The city encourages anyone who is interested in serving on a board or commission to call them at 573-657-2091 or visit their website for more information.

County: The County of Boone asks voters to decide whether or not senior citizens should be exempt from certain increases in property tax liability due on their primary residence. See page 5 of this week’s paper for exact ballot language.

Southern Boone County R-1 School District:
Candidates- There are two Southern Boone School District positions available in 2024, each with three-year terms. The two expiring seats are currently held by Tammra Aholt and Lyn Woolford, neither of which filed for re-election.

The candidates running for the positions are:
Heather Brown
Jeremy Galloway
April Georgetti

See school bond issues below.

On Monday, March 25th, the Southern Boone Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Boone Economic Development Council hosted a Virtual Candidate Forum. Watch video here.