Most south county voters fail to make it to the polls

A majority of south county voters once again failed to exercise their civic duty as evidenced by the abys-mal turnout in most local elections last week.

Voters in the city of Crestwood once again led the way in terms of turnout April 8 despite the fact that four of five aldermanic candidates were unopposed.

Slightly more than 30 percent of the registered voters in Crestwood’s Ward 4 cast ballots last week in a race in which incumbent Alderman Tom Fagan was unopposed, according to unofficial results. Nearly 19.5 percent of the city’s Ward 1 voters cast ballots, while 26.57 percent of Crestwood Ward 3 voters exercised their civic responsibility last week.

In Crestwood’s only contested race — and the only contested municipal race in the Call’s circulation area — 28.37 percent of registered voters cast ballots last week as incumbent Ward 2 Alderman Tim Trueblood prevailed over challenger Jeff Schlink.

In Sunset Hills, voter turnout ranged from 17.13 percent to 28.13 percent as all four incumbent aldermen were unopposed in their re-election bids.

In Green Park, 16.50 percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots in the mayoral race as incumbent Steve Armstrong was unopposed in his bid for a second, two-year term.

All three of the city’s incumbent aldermen were unopposed in their re-election bids and turnout ranged from 24.77 percent in Ward 1 to 5.67 percent in Ward 3. In Ward 3, incumbent Alderman Mark Hayden re-ceived 18 votes of 22 cast, while 94.33 percent of the ward’s 388 registered voters couldn’t be bothered to perform their civic duty.

Ward 3 voters this year set a new low compared to last year when incumbent Alderman Fred Baras received 24 votes of 25 cast, while 93.44 of Ward 3 voters didn’t go to the polls.

In the Lindbergh School District, 24.88 percent of registered voters turned out last week as the district’s Proposition 4 bond issue was narrowly approved. The $14.1 million bond issue, which required a four-sevenths majority for approval, or 57.14 percent, received 4,908 “yes” votes — 57.67 percent — and 3,603 “no” votes — 42.33 percent.