Pettis County voters exceeded Pettis County Clerk Nick La Strada’s prediction for the April 5 municipal election, with 21.97% of registered voters (5,770) casting a ballot.
La Strada, who had predicted a 17-18% turnout when talking with the Democrat on Friday, called it an “unbelieveable turnout.” In 2017, the turnout was 21.87%.
“I’m honored to be part of the election process. It’s an honor to actually see people are getting engaged in local elections and proud of Pettis County,” La Strada told the Democrat by phone after all precincts were reporting around 9:20 p.m. “My prediction with the Democrat was 17-18%, and on the radio (on Monday) I said, ‘Pettis County, please prove me wrong and do over 20%’ and they did. Our team is happy. It was a great day.”
La Strada said this was the largest percentage turnout in the past four years. Based on the number of ballots — the number of registered voters has increased so it’s hard to compare to 2017 strictly on percentages — it was the highest municipal turnout since 2004.
Within minutes of polls closing at 7 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for northeastern Pettis County. La Strada said about four polling locations were affected by the severe weather, and he directed those poll workers to stay in place until the weather had cleared. They headed to the Pettis County Courthouse once it was deemed safe.
“That took time, trying to rectify all that,” La Strada said. “We want to make sure everyone is safe.”
With the increased registered voter turnout, La Strada said he’s seeing more voter engagement.
“I’m very flattered to see people are starting to realize how important local elections are,” La Strada said. “It’s good to see the average turnout was 9, 10, 11% and now we’re starting to see a trend here of turnouts coming at least 15%.”
According to La Strada, there was a 15-16% turnout in 2016, 21.87% in 2017 and almost 20% in 2018. Turnout began to drop off again in 2019 with a 13% turnout and nearly 14% in 2020 when the municipal election was delayed from April to June due to the pandemic. It began to rise again in 2021 with a 17.88% turnout.
La Strada acknowledged that some people may not be impressed with a 20% turnout, but he said it’s statistically better than the previous turnout trends.
“It’s good to see that the trend is not how it used to be, that 9, 10%. We’re excited that people are getting more engaged,” he said. “If it was the school board, the tax, the ambulance district, the mayor’s race, whatever it was, people are starting to realize these are the elections that are just as important as midterms and presidential.”
