ShawneeDispatch.com

Jeff Meyers

Dan Pflumm

With the votes canvassed and outcome declared official, it's now known that just over 15 percent of Shawnee's registered voters cast ballots in the April 1 city elections.

As residents considered candidates for mayor and four Shawnee City Council seats, 5,808 of Shawnee's 37,900 voters made sure they had a say, according to the Johnson County Election Office. Vote totals by ward and precinct show a larger turnout by voters in the northern and eastern portions of the city.

Wards I and II had the highest voter turnout at 18 and 16.5 percent, respectively. Ward I also had the precinct that had the highest voter turnout, with 24.5 percent of the voters in the ward's 6th Precinct visiting the polls.

While Ward III has the most registered voters at 11,030, at least 2,000 more than the other wards, it had the lowest turnout, with just 1,260 or 11.4 percent. Ward IV, which had 15.8 percent of its voters at the polls, had the precinct with the lowest turnout in the city. Only 45 voters in the ward's 4th Precinct cast votes, 4.7 percent of the total 962 registered voters in the precinct.

Vote totals show that Mayor Jeff Meyers won re-election by gaining the majority vote in all but three precincts, one in Ward I and two in Ward III. His overall vote total was 3,604, giving him 62.4 percent.

The story was similar for Council incumbents who still had a challenger, with 10 precincts in Wards I and IV and 11 precincts in Wards II and III.

Neal Sawyer received the majority of the votes in all but one Ward II precinct, where he garnered just 45.5 percent. The same was true for Mickey Sandifer, who only trailed with 48 percent of the vote in Ward IV's 7th Precinct.

Even in the closest race of the election, decided by 104 votes, Ward III's Dawn Kuhn got the majority of the vote in all but two precincts.

Candidates have until Jan. 12, 2009, to file their final campaign finance reports for the election. Previous reports filed Feb. 18 and March 24 show that before the final week of campaigning, Meyers had raised the most funds and had spent the most on his campaign, listing expenditures of $4,225.

Meyers received $17,992 in contributions and spent 23 percent of that on consulting services, supplies, mailings, flyers and balloons.

His opponent, Dan Pflumm, received $3,020 in contributions and reported spending $1,547.72 by March 24 on mailings and a campaign fundraiser.

Bob Dyche, Ward III candidate, reported no contributions except the $500 and $900 loans of his own money. He reported spending $1,019 of that on copies, printer ink, newspaper advertising and supplies for a Shawnee St. Patrick's Day Parade float.

Ward IV candidate Frank Imgrund reported no contributions or expenditures, listing his own in-kind contributions of $331 for stamps.

Kuhn raised $4,035 in contributions and spent $2,620 of that before March 24 on consulting services, mailings, yard signs, T-shirts and a newspaper ad.

Sandifer had $7,300 in contributions and spent $2,526 on stamps, campaign hand-outs, mailings, consulting services and car signs.

Sawyer reported expenditures of $1,117, not quite half of the $2,900 he received in contributions. Sawyer spent his funds on an advance voters list, consulting services and campaign handouts and mailings.

Contributors gave Scott $3,445, and she spent $2,660 on campaign mailings and yard signs. Scott also reported lending $5,000 of her own money to her campaign and $771 of in-kind contributions for a campaign fundraiser.

Kathleen Chipman Shamet, who challenged Scott in Ward I but withdrew before the election, reported she had no contributions or expenditures while still in the race.

Ron Weigel, who ran in Ward II, listed $625 in contributions and no expenditures before March 24.