Gudehus Elected to Serve Remainder of Term as Knox County Sheriff in Special Election

Edina, MO – The Knox County Sheriff Special Election hosted an amazingly low voter turnout on Tuesday, February 26, 2019.

Although the special election ballot offered the choice of only one candidate, appointed Knox County Sheriff Allen Gudehus, state law mandated the special election be held, according to Knox County Clerk Marlene Spory.

Only 176 voters turned out, out of 2,575 total registered voters in the county. Voter turnout was 6.83 percent.

The current Knox County Sheriff Allen Gudehus received 173 votes and 98 percent of the vote. Three votes were cast for write-ins.

All six Knox County precincts, Baring, Edina, Hurdland, Knox City, Newark, Novelty, opened at 6:00 a.m. and remained open until 7:00 p.m.

Between Hurdland, Newark and Novelty, which hosted the lowest numbers of voters, only 26 voters made their way to those polls. Each of the three polling locations averaged less than one voter per hour throughout the 13-hour special election with 11 ballots cast in Hurdland, seven cast in Newark and eight cast in Novelty.

Knox City averaged one ballot cast per hour with 13.

The two remaining precincts, Baring and Edina, hosted 34 and 68 voters respectively, and 35 absentee ballots were cast.

The special election was held to fill the vacated Knox County Sheriff seat after former Sheriff Robert Becker (2016-2018) was forced out of office at the end of 2018. Knox County Coroner Alan Rimer briefly assumed the role of the sheriff until former Knox County Sheriff Allen Gudehus (2012-2016) was appointed to the position by the Knox County Commission in January until the special election could be held according to state law.

Sheriff Gudehus will remain in the office for the duration of the current term, which ends in just under two years at the end of 2020.

See the complete results provided by the Knox County Clerk’s Office below: