By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
April 15, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The preliminary results are in.

According to the Kansas City Board of Elections, about 12 percent of registered voters cast their ballot. The top two votegetters advance to the June 23 general election.

For the mayoral seat, Sylvester “Sly” James collected over 80 percent of the vote. Vincent Lee came in second, followed by Clay Chastain. In the council races, the top two winners were:

• Third District, At-large: Quinton Lucas collected just over 50 percent of the votes, followed by Stephan Gordon at 12 percent.

• Third District, In-district: Jermaine Reed will have a chance to retain his seat in June. The incumbent received 57 percent, followed by Jamekia Kendrix at 18 percent.

• Fourth District, At-large: Incumbent Jim Glover and opponent Katheryn Shields, walk away at the end of the count virtually tied, both with 42 percent.

• Fourth District, In-district: Jolie Justus dominated John Fierro, 70 percent to 30 percent.

• First District, At-large: Incumbent Scott Wagner collected 73 percent of the vote compared to lone opponent Jeffery Roberts’s 26 percent.

• Second District, At-large: Teresa Loar received 70 percent of the vote against Jay Hodges. Both are competing to replace Ed Ford.

• Fifth District, At-large: Lee Barnes also earned more than 70 percent of the vote while his lone opponent Dennis Anthony only received 22 percent. Both are hoping to replace Cindy Circo, who is term-limited out.

• Sixth District, At-large: Scott Taylor ran unopposed and received 97 percent of the vote.

Voters also overwhelmingly approved questions one and two, which asked residents to remove from the park system vacant property located at 534 Highland Ave. and reauthorized to impose an annual fee on short term loan establishments for the administrative expenses related to the regulation, inspection and permitting of such establishments, in the amount of $1,000.00 for each permit. The 2.44 acres is surrounded by Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and at past city meetings, city officials said they’ve spoken with KCUMB officials about the land. The school is interested in acquiring the property to continue with recent expansions made to the campus as part of their master plan.

The board noted there were 135 polls in 388 precints. The total number of registered voters in Kansas City, Mo., is 200,700 — of which only 24,107 cast a vote. The estimated total cost for the primary elections was around $465,420.