Kurt Bahr is out front in the Republican race to keep running St. Charles County elections, according to early returns from Tuesday's primary. The contest has become a local referendum on whether voters should stick with the county's current scanner-based system or return to hand-counted paper ballots.
STLtoday reported that Bahr led former Wentzville school board member Jen Olson in early returns. Bahr, a former Missouri state representative, is seeking another term as the county's elections director, while Olson built her campaign around election transparency and a push to hand-count ballots.
Hand Counts Versus Voting Machines
Olson made replacing ballot scanners with hand-counting a central campaign issue, arguing that the change would restore public confidence and keep election spending closer to home. Bahr has defended the county's current approach, saying machines are the most efficient and accurate way to tabulate tens of thousands of paper ballots.
The candidates' contrasting positions are laid out in the St. Charles County voter guide. Olson says hand-counted ballots would make the process easier for residents to observe, while Bahr points to paper ballots, chain-of-custody procedures, scanner testing and public hand-count audits as safeguards he intends to continue.
The county currently uses a process in which voters mark paper ballots that are then fed into scanners for tabulation. That system, and whether it inspires confidence or suspicion, has made what is normally a low-profile administrative office one of the more closely watched races on the local ballot.
Republican Winner Expected To Face Libertarian
The Republican nominee is expected to face Libertarian candidate Carl Herman Freese in the November general election. The county's filed-candidate list shows Freese competing for the same office, while the Republican ballot lists Bahr and Olson as the two candidates seeking their party's nomination.
VOTE411's candidate guide identifies Bahr as the incumbent and describes Olson as a former school board member with a background in accounting, legal research, data management and election-related research. The guide also frames the choice in familiar terms: Bahr emphasizes administration and security, while Olson emphasizes transparency and a return to hand-counting.
Early Lead Is Not Yet A Final Result
The St. Charles County Election Authority is directing voters to unofficial results for the Aug. 4 primary, so Bahr's lead should not be treated as a certified victory. The county's election calendar lists Aug. 18 as the target date for final certification.
The race also arrives after election administration disputes have already spilled into court. In 2024, a St. Charles County judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt early voting over poll-watcher access, allowing voting to continue, as Hoodline reported.
Money did not necessarily predict the early count: By the July 12 campaign-finance deadline, Olson had raised about $37,000 compared with roughly $23,000 for Bahr, according to STLtoday's report. For now, though, the longtime elections director has the advantage in a race where the county's voting system itself became the main issue.
