Cities throughout Missouri are delaying local elections by two months. Tax issues and races for city councils and school boards in Warren County won’t be decided until June 2.

The time for absentee voting has been extended to June 1.

Governor Mike Parson ordered the postponement of all April 7 municipal elections in response to the COVID-19 emergency.

“Given the growing concern surrounding COVID-19 and the large number of people elections attract, postponing Missouri’s municipal elections is a necessary step to help combat the spread of the virus,” Parson said.

In Warren County, that means a delay of decisions on tax issues in Truesdale and the Warren County R-III School District, as well as numerous contested government races.

County Clerk Denise Stotler, who operates the local elections, said there shouldn’t be much difficulty with the new election date. None of the costs for election judges, truck rentals or newspaper notices were charged yet, so the county won’t have to seek a refund or pay twice, Stotler said.

Printed ballots, the largest cost of the elections, will be saved until June.

“The date will say April 7 on the ballot, even though (the election) is going to be in June,” Stotler commented.

She said the only potential hiccups will be if the elections are delayed again, or if there is a conflict with election judge scheduling. A certain number of judges are required to be present at each voting precinct.

“A couple of them were not definite. They would hope that this would be over by then,” Stotler said. “Our concern is most of them are elderly. Their health is more important to me than getting them out with all these people.”

If there are fewer election judges because of COVID-19 concerns, some voting precincts might be consolidated together, Stotler said.

Other than that, she said the biggest challenge at the moment is getting the word out to the public that elections aren’t happening April 7.

On the ballot

Local elections this year include a 39 cent per $100 property tax increase for residents of the Warren County R-III School District. The tax is aimed at providing competitive staff salaries.

In Truesdale, residents will vote on a half-cent sales tax dedicated to city street and transportation improvements.

There are competitive races for seats on nearly every town council and school board in Warren County.

A small number of elected officials will actually take office on the normally scheduled date of April 7. Stotler said if any district filed a notice of non-election, because only one candidate filed for each seat, those people will begin their terms as previously scheduled.

Non-election districts this year include Marthasville Ambulance, Warren County Ambulance, East Central College, Marthasville Fire, Emergency Services (911) Board, and Public Water Supply District 2.