Rumors that former Pulaski County Sheriff J.T. Roberts would appeal his Nov. 4 election defeat to incumbent J.B. King have existed since the election, now nearly a month ago.
State statutes permit Roberts 30 days from when the election was finalized to file an appeal with Pulaski County Circuit Clerk Rachelle Beasley. That deadline is end of business Friday.
On Monday, neither Beasley nor County Clerk Diana Linnenbringer have received word of Roberts’ intent to challenge the election.
“We just received today’s mail, but as of yet, we have nothing from Mr. Roberts,” Beasley said.
Similarly, Linnenbringer said her office has not received a notice of intent to challenge.
“We haven’t gotten anything yet,” she said.
Roberts, a Democrat, lost to King, a Republican, by 38 votes of the 12,844 ballots cast in the Sheriff’s race. Those 38 votes represent less than three-thousandths of one percent of the vote.
A call to Roberts’ residence after election results were finalized did not reveal his intent to challenge the election. At that time, Roberts was pheasant hunting in Iowa.
A call to his home Monday, and messages left, went unreturned.
Linnenbringer, the County Clerk, said Monday 15,165 voters took to the polls, for a 72 percent turnout. There are 21,147 registered voters in Pulaski County.
“It was a pretty good turnout, but I actually thought it might be more,” Linnenbringer said.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s office anticipated turnout to reach as high as 80 percent. Voter turnout in St. Robert, in the Community Center, was especially high where the polls did not close until 10:10 p.m.
“There were as many as 185 soldiers who showed up to vote at 5 minutes to 7,” Linnenbringer said. “It made for a long evening.”
Linnenbringer then presented a Letter of Thanks from Col. Thomas W. Kula, Chief of Staff at Fort Leonard Wood, thanking the county for all it did assisting soldiers as they voted.
The election cost the county about $44,000, Linnenbringer said.
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