The wet-dry option vote in Robards turned up a victory for those wanting to buy beer, with 337 voting ‘yes’ and 132 voting ‘no.’
The initiative was taken up by Robards General Store owner Joe McGarrh, who wanted to provide the option of selling package beer to local customers at his store.
To do that, McGarrh had to gather signatures of 25% of the number of voters in the precinct who voted in the previous election, or 181, and he had to gather them by an August deadline.
McGarrh said that he’ll stock more of the big sellers of beer and alcoholic seltzers—the stuff “we know we can move and not sit on the shelf a long time.”
He said he hopes to have beer on the shelves by the end of the year or early next year. He said it usually takes three to four weeks for the state Board of Elections to certify the election, and then he will need to apply for a liquor license, which takes about a month to acquire, he said.
McGarrh said he felt like the vote would carry, considering all the positive comments he received when he was out gathering signatures.
“I was happy (about the election) but I wasn’t entirely shocked,” he said. “Overall, I kind of expected it.”
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