HERMANN — With election workers nationwide the target of threats of violence, voters going to their polling places in this county on Nov. 5 will notice increased security, Gasconade County Clerk Lesa Lietzow Thursday morning told the County Commission.

Lietzow, the county’s chief elections officer, said the Sheriff’s Department will have personnel scattered across the 16 precincts the Nov. 5 General Elections balloting. As she explained, that’s “for protection of election workers who are being threatened across the country” as much as for the voters going to the polls.

Sheriff Scott Eiler will be making stops at the precincts, she added. “He’s going to be at every polling place” and at the courthouse, Lietzow said.

The county clerk has projected a 72-percent turnout for the Nov. 5 balloting, amounting to about 8,000 of the county’s 10,600 registered voters. That compares to the 75-percent turnout posted four years ago.

In another election-related development, Lietzow voiced concern about the Hermann community newspaper announcing last Tuesday’s start of “early voting” — an announcement that resulted in confusion for some voters and added frustration for the County Clerk’s Office. The clerk said that after seeing the announcement, some voters on Tuesday went to their normal polling places only to find them closed with no activity.

Lietzow again Thursday morning noted that Missouri does not have “early voting.”

She said early voting means that traditional polling places are up and running for several days in advance of the scheduled election day with those polling places having a full complement of election judges. Like other states, Missouri has absentee voting, which must be done at the County Clerk’s Office. The county’s 16 polling places are in operation only one election day.

“A lot of people (who saw the announcement on social media) went to their polling places on Tuesday to vote,” she told the Commission.

The confusion prompted the county clerk to have a discussion with the publisher of the Hermann newspaper.

“She asked me if I wanted her to take it (the announcement) down,” Lietzow recounted to the county commissioners. “I said, ‘Of course. It’s wrong.’”

In other matters at last week’s session, County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported that the county received an October reimbursement check of $77,843 for motor fuel tax revenue from the state Department of Revenue. That’s the second-largest motor fuel tax reimbursement received this year, coming on the heels of last month’s $79,164.

For the year, the motor fuel tax has generated $709,489 for the county. The total amount received for all of 2023 was $818,611.

The Commission also appointed Danielle Norsic of Hermann to a vacant seat on the county’s Mental Health Board, which meets quarterly to allocate special tax revenue to providers of mental health services.