Ferguson voters make history and increase turnout

Yamiche Alcindor | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Ferguson voters make history and increase turnout For the first time in Ferguson, Missouri's history, half of the city council will be black. The city's residents are predominantly black, but their council members have been predominantly white.

Residents in Ferguson, Mo. Tuesday elected two black city council members, transforming the political body's racial composition after months of protests over racial profiling and police brutality.

One sitting black member of the council was not up for re-election. When the two new African-American council members take their seats it will be the first time that blacks have controlled half of the council, despite the fact that two-thirds of the city's 21,000 residents are black.

Demonstrations gave way to increased civic activism with 29% of eligible voters casting more than 3,700 ballots. That's more than double the 12% of eligible voters that came out for last April's mayoral election.

Since the shooting death last summer of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer, activists in the St. Louis suburb have implored people to vote. That message came through Tuesday as voters elected Wesley Bell, who is black, in Ward 3, Ella Jones, who is also black, in Ward 1, and Brian Fletcher, who is white, in Ward 2.

"We need more representation because you have to understand the culture of the people and you need to understand how to interact with people," Jones said.

A Justice Department report last month confirmed a broad pattern of biased policing in the city that singled out African Americans for excessive arrests and harsh punishment. Mayor James Knowles, who is white, holds the seventh seat on the council. He is not up for re-election.

Eric Fey, St. Louis County director of elections, said he was pleased with the turnout but is cautious about whether future elections will have such results.

"I think it's a shame that it took all the events and attention for people to come out and vote for their city council," Fey said. "Only time will tell if people remain engaged."

Bell, 40, a criminal justice instructor and municipal judge, will represent the the neighborhood where Brown, 18, died. He said he will focus on community policing, changing the city's court system and spurring economic development.

"We need to double down and implement policing where departments are part of the community and not distant from the community," Bell said.

Jones, who was a sales director for Mary Kay for 20 years, said she wants to give residents more opportunities to voice their concerns through town hall meetings and wants to look into ways to create jobs in the city.

Fletcher, 55, a former Mayor of Ferguson and a 30-year-resident of the city, says Ferguson needs stability and "normalcy" after months of protests. "It's been a very unsettling period," he said. "The citizens don't want to be in the headlines everyday. They want to go back to their day to day lives. "

Meanwhile, heavy rain and wind that swept through Ferguson Tuesday made some worry that the weather might deter people from voting. The weather slowed turnout early in the day, but turnout picked up later, Fey said. "Luckily we had no power outages, so the weather was only an irritant rather than a major issue," he said.

Throughout Tuesday, candidates offered residents free rides to the polls and volunteers went door to door to get out the vote.