Cass, Greene and Scott County Primary Results Shape Regional Political Landscape

Scott County chief deputy Bob Smith claimed the Republican nomination for sheriff by a margin of just 47 votes over Winchester chief of police Steve Doolin, the closest contested race among a string of primary battles that played out across Cass, Greene, Scott and Morgan counties on March 17.

Bob Smith finished with 591 votes to Doolin's 544, with Caleb Handy a distant third at 173. The sheriff's race stood out in a county where 42% of voters turned out, a figure WLDS reporter Gary Scott noted favorably: "Turnouts were much better in the nearby counties."

In the Scott County Republican treasurer race, Shelley Whewell won decisively with 862 votes against Katherine A. Simmons, who drew 412.

Across the county line in Greene, the Republican primary for four county board seats drew five candidates and produced a tightly grouped field at the top. David Hicks led with 1,518 votes, followed by incumbent Mark Strang with 1,423, incumbent Earlene Castleberry with 1,178 and Christina "Tina" Lahr with 1,104. Le Esarey finished fifth with 752 votes. The race was labeled "Vote for 4," though WLDS did not explicitly certify the four winners in its posted results.

In Morgan County, Tim Bass dominated the Republican primary for 8th Circuit Judge, collecting 958 votes to Christopher W. Pratt's 416. The Morgan County Commissioner Republican primary was similarly lopsided: Greg Hacker drew 1,760 votes against Vikkie Becker's 871. In a smaller but still contested race, Kem L. Wilson won the South Jacksonville 3 Republican precinct committeeman seat with 47 votes to Michaelene Oldenettel's 18.

Morgan County voters also weighed in on the South Jacksonville Fire Protection District ballot question, rejecting it narrowly: 282 voted no against 265 in favor.

In the broader regional picture, incumbent Pike County Treasurer Scott Syrcle held off challenger Susan Pitchford 1,340 to 1,069. Pike County voters also chose five county board members from a field of eight candidates, though full results from that race were not available in initial reporting.

On the U.S. Senate Republican primary, the local results posted by WLDS covering Morgan, Scott, Greene and Cass counties showed Don Tracy leading with 1,200 votes, followed by Jeannie Evans at 255, Pamela Denise Long at 108, Casey Chlebek at 90, Jimmy Lee Tillman II at 74 and R. Cary Capparelli at 49. On the Democratic side, Juliana Stratton led with 375 votes, ahead of Raja Krishnamoorthi's 305 and Robin Kelly's 65. WLDS did not specify whether those federal totals represent aggregate figures across all four counties or a subset of precincts.

Gary Scott's county roundup posted at 6:21 a.m. March 18 covered the Cass, Greene and Scott results; Harold Smith's broader regional piece followed at 9:45 a.m. the same day. The WLDS results page also listed vote totals of 380 for Terry C. Redman and 644 for Katherine Daniels without identifying the office or county those figures belong to; full context for those entries was not available in the published results.