Tuesday, Feb. 20 is the first day of absentee voting for the April 2 General Municipal Election.
“Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 20, we will be open for absentee voting, six weeks prior to any election,” Pettis County Clerk Nick La Strada said. “So, as we just hosted this past bond election, everybody knows where the hub is."
The Pettis County Courthouse Annex, 215 E. Fifth St., adjacent to the Pettis County Courthouse in downtown Sedalia, houses the Clerk’s Office.
"If you feel you can't make it to your polling location, you can come here and vote just like you would at your normal location," La Strada suggests. "However, we do have three more elections coming up, but the big one coming up right now is the local election.”
Voters will be asked to cast their ballots for numerous entities on the ballot, including an ambulance district race, seats on local school boards, and some local mayors and aldermen, and some tax questions; voters are only eligible to vote in races for districts where they reside.
“Probably the largest race on the ballot is the State Fair Community College Board of Trustees,” La Strada said. “It's a vote for two, there's three people that are running.”
Another important issue to decide April 2 is a proposed lengthening of Sedalia City Council terms from two-year terms to four-year terms.
“The council members are currently serving as a two-year term and they're asking the voters if they would like to have them as a four-year term,” La Strada said. “If you would want them to be a four-year term, you would vote yes. If you want to keep it the same, you would vote no.”
As always, the elections office is working diligently to get information out to everyone concerning the issues, election dates and polling places.
“We're doing everything we always do,” La Strada said. “Go to our Facebook page, go to our Instagram page, go to our Twitter page.”
As elections near, the Pettis County Clerk’s Office will try to alert the voting public through mailed reminder cards, radio ads and notices in the newspaper.
“Remember, the last day to request an absentee ballot to be mailed to you for this upcoming election is going to be March 20,” La Strada said. “If you feel you can't even make it here, you can go online to pettisclerk.gov and request an absentee ballot be mailed to you.”
Sample ballots and a breakdown of issues and polling places at easy to find, as are election results on election night.
“The website tells you everything, it's very intuitive,” La Strada said. “We still send out election reminder cards to let everybody know, so if you don't have access to the internet, you have the Sedalia Democrat; if you don't have access to the radio station, we do our mailing pieces, so there's no excuse at all.”
La Strada is adamant every registered voter gets a chance to cast their ballot but warns them to come prepared with proper identification.
“Remember, when you do come and vote, make sure you bring your photo ID,” La Strada said, “and if you have any questions, call me, Nick La Strada, on my cell 660-281-7767 or at the office, 660-826-5000 ext. 918.”
In the April 2 election, where the voter resides may determine which of the issues they are allowed to vote on, so some residents of Pettis County won’t vote at all as none of the issues affect them.
“There’s about 254-255 voters within Elk Fork and Green Ridge Township who will not be able to vote because there's nothing to vote on,” La Strada explained. “We're going to go ahead and send them a card to let them know there's nothing for you to vote on. However, you do have the August primary coming up on the sixth and then the big Nov. 5 election, which everybody's excited for, is going to be coming up as well.”
The Pettis County Courthouse Annex, 215 E. Fifth St., is open for absentee voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information on the April 2 election, visit www.pettisclerk.gov.
Chris Howell can be reached at 660-530-0146.
