CITY OFFICIALS HOPE LOW VOTER TURNOUT NO TREND

Maybe it was the timing or the topic, but Cape Girardeau voters didn't really see a need in casting ballots on an $8.5 million sewer revenue bond issue Tuesday.

The measure passed despite fewer than 4 percent of registered voters participating. It is likely the lowest voter turnout ever in the city.

Statistics show that the number of Cape Girardeau voters has risen in the past year, but few of those registered voted Tuesday.

City officials hope the trend doesn't continue in future elections.

"It's just puzzling why people have lost interest in standing up and being counted," said Melvin Gateley, a Cape Girardeau city councilman.

Gateley and other Vision 2000 volunteers are spearheading a drive to get more voters registered for the April 4 election. The last day to register for that election is March 8.

There are at least four more elections before the year ends:

• A presidential primary March 7.
• Municipal and school board elections April 4.
• Primary elections Aug. 8.
• General elections Nov. 7.

Elections where the ballots have more than one issue like those for municipal and general elections tend to draw larger crowds, said Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller.

Vision 2000 has been working for 14 years to get voter registration levels up to 90 percent in the city. Numbers show that more people are registered but don't cast ballots.

Gateley said the reason is apathy among voters. "There is a failure to see the value of being a good citizen," he said. "People shouldn't just vote on issues."

Sewer construction isn't glamorous or controversial, said Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III, so it didn't draw many people to the polls.

"There wasn't anything to get excited about," he said.

Since the issue didn't involve any costs associated with taxes, people didn't worry about it. Spradling said he was surprised to hear from people who didn't know there was an election despite several publicity campaigns.

City employees had 25 meetings with civic clubs to explain why the sewer bond was needed and what projects would be included in the funding. Another 10 meetings were held with city employees.

"I thought we touched more than 850 people in all this," Spradling said.

City Manager Michael Miller said the low turnout "shows the importance of the individual voter in today's society."

Even with only 852 votes, the issue got nearly 83 percent support.

In some voting precincts, the measure passed overwhelmingly. It failed in two of the county's smaller precincts.

Spradling said those figures can either show that people are satisfied with what is happening in their city or they didn't feel affected by the issue and thus didn't vote.

In essence, nearly 4 percent of the voters made a decision for the other 96 percent, Spradling said. "Sometimes we take too much for granted," he said.

Part of the problem is drawing a crowd to the polls for only one ballot issue. There are always pluses and minuses for the off-elections, Miller said.

Usually you get more educated voters who understand the issue "and make an effort," he said. "There is such a thing as overloading them with too many issues."

Cape Girardeau chose the February date because it allowed crews to get started on the work in the spring construction cycle.

Tuesday's election cost $11,500 to conduct, which covers costs of printing the ballots and paying election judges, said Rodney Miller.