It's the first year Jefferson City is not holding a primary election, and six candidates will face off on the April ballot, each hoping to become Jefferson City mayor.
After filing ended Tuesday, a six-way race was set for the mayoral seat, with 3rd Ward Councilman Bob Scrivner, Leonard Steinman, Carrie Tergin, Edith Vogel, Roy Viessman and Richard S. Groner all hoping to win the April 7 election.
It may be the first time Jefferson City voters have had that many choices for mayor, at least in recent history.
Those two factors could mean the next mayor is decided by a small portion of Jefferson City's registered voters.
The average voter turnout throughout the past 10 years of countywide April elections is roughly 8,387 ballots cast. The lowest voter turnout in the last 10 years was April 2012 when only 2,668 ballots were cast throughout Cole County, while the highest turnout was in April 2005, when 17,155 ballots were cast.
Also, in the last mayoral election, decided in the February 2011 primary, only 5,957 ballots were cast for Jefferson City mayor. Current Mayor Eric Struemph won the election outright with 3,901 ballots cast in his favor.
However, even if some would like to see the city go back to the primary election system, it may not be a viable solution after state law changed February primaries.
In October 2012, the City Council approved a March primary date after a new state law took away February primary dates, except in cases where a charter city specifically required a February election in the city charter.
Because Jefferson City's charter did not specifically require a February primary, only that a primary election must take place, the council had set the 2013 primary for March.
That date created some difficulty as the ballots for the April general election were printed before the March primary date. Another issue was absentee voting is allowed six weeks before election day, which meant absentee voting began before the primary had been held.
Because of those issues, city officials placed a proposed charter change on the April 8, 2014 ballot that sought to eliminate the primary all together. The measure passed with 73.92 percent of voters approving the change.
At the time, officials also said many cities had chosen to eliminate the primary as it helped cut costs. When the charter change was proposed, it was said to save the city about $28,000 per year in election costs.
City Attorney Drew Hilpert said the city could propose changing the charter again to specify a February primary, based on his interpretation of the state statute. One reason the city chose not to put that on the ballot in 2014 was that then-County Clerk Marvin Register said he would take the city to court if the February date was used for anything but a bond issue.
Hilpert said city officials did not want to create any friction with local election authorities and opted to eliminate the primary all together. But if officials and residents decide a primary is needed, they could try changing the charter again.