Voters will have to decide between two republican candidates in the race for the Eastern District Buchanan County Commissioner’s seat.

Scott Burnham and incumbent Dan Hausman are the choices on the republican ballot in Tuesday’s primary election.

Hausman, who is running for his fourth term, has recently faced mileage reimbursement issues in his campaign. He said he drives a lot due to being involved in many state organizations throughout Missouri.

“Last year, I drove about 18,000 miles,” Hausman said. “The county has a very vague policy on use of your personal car or county cars. I wasn’t even aware that I was driving that many miles but we got it all resolved.”

Hausman said some of the the challenges he sees facing the county in the next few years include economic development and repairing levees. 

His challenger, Scott Burnham, said he decided to run as he has become increasingly frustrated in government. 

“First of all I want to bring honesty and integrity and accountability back to the eastern district office,” Burnham said. “My business background, though, I really feel can help out with economic development. I owned and grew my own small business and then I went to work for a large publicly traded company. So I think I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum there and I feel like I’ve got a pretty good understanding of what businesses are looking for from their government.” 

Tom Archdekin is running unopposed on the Democratic side. Primary winners will face each other in the Nov. 8 election. 

Primary elections take place Tuesday with polls open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. For more information and to find a polling place, go to the Buchanan County Clerk’s website.