By Ralph Echtinaw

St. Louis Mayor James Kelly lamented the low voter turnout (9.68 percent) in St. Louis city council elections Tuesday and encouraged students at the meeting to value and exercise their voting rights when they get them.

“Today is election day,” he said. “I don’t think we got 20 percent of the voters out today. That’s sad. When you get old enough to vote, please vote. Study. Listen to people. But get out and vote. It’s more important to be a voter than a Republican or Democrat. This council makes a lot of decisions for the city. We’re getting, what, 15 percent of the voters to vote? It’s sad that people don’t take it seriously. It’s important. Where did we lose that desire to vote? Get involved. If you get a chance, consider running for local office. It’s very rewarding. Any of the council will tell you. Once in a great while you have a problem you can’t fix and you lose sleep over it. But it’s only like once a year. Most of the time it’s very rewarding.”

Kelly won reelection (unopposed) on Tuesday, Nov. 5, and is set to serve through 2021.