Join Me at the Royale to Discuss the Upcoming City Primary Election
Monday evening (2/16/09) I’m hosting the first of two City Primary Discussions at The Royale.
From the invite:
In our fair city we have many elections, and a very important election is coming up in early March. It is the primary, the key election for most offices in Saint Louis city. In this election half of all of the wards will be up for election along with the executive branch, our city’s Mayor.
Here at the Royale we discuss the future of our city. For the next two Mondays(16th and 23rd) starting at 8:30 to close we will have an open discussion about all of the city election races. These discussions will be hosted by Steve Patterson of the urbanreviewstl.com blog. All are welcome and encouraged to attend to learn more about the candidates.
The start time is 8:30pm on the 16th & 23rd. The Royale is located at 3132 S. Kingshighway (map). So come out, get a beverage from the bar, and sit down with me to discuss the various races throughout the city.
I attended a candidates’ forum for the 23rd ward race last night – it was my first chance to see all seven in one place, and it certainly helped me narrow my choices.
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One question – in the primary, does the candidate with the most votes win? Or, if no one receives a majority (51%), is there a runoff between the top two?
The last time I was at the Royale, it was full of smokers. Do they still allow smoking there?
No, only outside.
No runoff is kinda scary. Primaries typically attract a smaller turnout, and with seven candidates in the 23rd ward, the winner could potentially only get 15% of the votes. Even assuming a 30% turnout and the winner getting 30% of the votes, that means that 9% of the registered voters could essentially be “electing” the next alderman. Goes to show that every vote does count!
Jimmy Z, ours is an intimate system. The flaws are clear, but so are the benefits: one person has a definite impact on the results.
Oh, Dog, if only this country had run-off voting.
I was in attendance last night. I was dissapointed that there was not a more organized forum for discussion around the issues. It seemed to just be generating revenue for Steve. Which is fine, I love the Royale, but don’t mask trying to increase business with the guise of a group-based political discussion.
How was the turnout? Was it factual or opinion based discussion?
I am considering going on the 23rd and would like to know.