Cumulative voting in Ferg-Flor, school board diversity unchanged as black challenger unseats black i
Election results on Tuesday, April 2 suggest that federal court-ordered cumulative voting in the Ferguson-Florissant School District as a means to bring more diversity to its school board did not work as intended – at least not this time around.
There were three candidates, two black and one white, vying for two positions, which meant one black candidate would win regardless. In the end, Leslie Suzanne Hogshead, a white incumbent, won with the most votes, 5,667 votes or 43.29 percent. A black challenger, Sheila Powell-Walker, came in second with 3,769 votes or 28.79 percent, removing a black incumbent, Connie Harge (3,565 votes or 27.23 percent) from the board.
Cumulative voting meant that voters could cast their two votes for one candidate, if they wished. The only white candidate on the ballot campaigned in an effort to make this change – intended to give black voters a greater voice – work to her benefit.
Hogshead, who has been on the board since 1992, used campaign signage that read “Vote Twice for Experience.” On April 1 she posted on Facebook, “Please remember to vote for me and remember vote 2 times.”
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