Cape Girardeau city election quietly bypasses university dorm

When it came to getting votes from one Southeast Missouri State University dorm, Ward 1 council candidates Evelyn Boardman and Frank Stoffregen went 0-for-41 Tuesday.

Of the qualified voters living in Cheney Hall -- the sole residence in the 5th Precinct that's also in Ward 1 -- not one participated in Tuesday's election. It was the only precinct in Cape Girardeau where a race received no votes.

Patty Schlosser said 21 other registered voters no longer live in Cheney but can't be removed from the tally until they miss two federal elections.

Ben Okey, an education major and the building's senior community adviser, said there are many reasons why students in his building didn't vote. No one in the building is from Cape Girardeau, he said, thus no one cares about the political scene in this city.

Okey votes in New York City, his hometown. Besides, he had a paper to write.

Many of the 125 students who reside in the building received flyers about the election, but Ashley Tomlin wasn't one of them.

"I wasn't here, but I didn't know about it anyway," she said.

Katy Kramper, another student living in Cheney, said she didn't vote because she didn't know any of the candidates.

"If I actually see someone and they ask for my vote, I will," she said. "But if I don't know who you are and I don't know what values you have, then I just feel it's best left to those who know the candidates better."

Even so, Boardman won the council race by nearly a 3-to-1 margin.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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