ST. LOUIS • Sharon Quigley Carpenter will once again be the city’s recorder of deeds.

Carpenter, who abruptly resigned the office in July for violating the state’s nepotism law but vowed to return, received overwhelming support from city voters on Tuesday. Carpenter won 61 percent of the vote, easily defeating Republican challenger Erik Shelquist and independent candidate Jennifer Florida.

Carpenter, who won a three-way Democratic primary, used decades of name recognition in a heavily Democratic city to overcome unflattering publicity and a significant fundraising disadvantage.

“All I can say is these people here made it happen,” Carpenter said, while gesturing to her election night gathering in south St. Louis. “It was friends and family that knew that negative would never work.”

In July, Carpenter resigned after reports surfaced that she had hired her great-nephew for summer work. The only penalty for violating the state’s nepotism law, which forbids officeholders from hiring their relatives, is for the offender to resign for the remainder of their term. Carpenter immediately said she would seek a return.