Gov. Matt Blunt’s spokeswoman said Wednesday that he’ll begin looking for replacements now that lawyer John Diehl has resigned as chairman of the St. Louis County Election Board.

“Governor Blunt appreciates his service. He did a good job on the Election Board,” said Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson. “”We are in the beginning stages of seeking his replacement.”

Diehl, a lawyer from Town and Country, said he e-mailed his resignation to Blunt on Wednesday. Diehl then drove to Jefferson City, filing shortly before 5 p.m. as a candidate for the state House seat soon to be vacated by fellow Republican Scott Muschany, who is not seeking re-election this fall.

Since St. Louis County is the state’s largest voting jurisdiction, there’s lot of speculation of who Blunt might choose to oversee the county’s huge operation as it prepares for the August statewide primary and the November presidential election.

As mentioned earlier here on Political Fix, one of the names bandied about is former County Councilman Skip Mange, a Republican who just happens to be Town and Country’s former mayor.

Mange, 67, said Wednesday he hadn’t heard of the talk and hadn’t been contacted by anyone.  Nor would he divulge his thoughts about such a task, other than to say that overseeing the county Election Board was a big job.

A jovial sort, Mange said he was dry-walling his garage when we called.

If the rumors are correct, he might want to finish that job pretty quickly.