After all the votes were totaled up, the hopes of those wanting to toss out St. Paul’s citywide organized trash-collection system were thrown in the city-provided garbage cart.

The vote wasn’t particularly close: 62.5 percent of voters participating in Tuesday’s ballot question voted in favor of hanging on to the city-organized trash collection system implemented by the St. Paul City Council in 2017. Supporters of keeping the system were a majority in six of St. Paul’s seven wards, with high the high-turnout third and fourth wards providing a big share of the “yes” votes.

Votes in favor of organized trash collection by St. Paul ward Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

Opposition to St. Paul’s system in the form of “no” votes on the measure was not as intense. “No” got its largest number of supporters in Ward 3, the ward with the highest turnout overall.

Votes against organized trash collection by St. Paul ward Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

Comparing the number of “yes” votes to the number of “no” votes by ward, organized-trash supporters won in every St. Paul ward except for Ward 7 on the city’s east side, where opponents of the system beat out supporters by 311 votes.

Trash vote margin by St. Paul ward Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

‘Yes’ and ‘no’ votes on St. Paul trash referendum by ward Source: Minnesota Secretary of State