After all that has transpired in Ferguson, will residents vote?

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. Here, go argue with these specialists on how off year local elections have a lower turnout

No, it is not a conspiracy, but... it might as well be and this is why one side of the aisle prefers to have controversial things on off year, preferably special elections...

Here you go from a site specializing in this.

University of Wisconsin researchers provided Governing with elections data covering 144 larger U.S. cities, depicting a decline in voter turnout in odd-numbered years over the previous decade. In 2001, an average of 26.6 percent of cities’ voting-age population cast ballots, while less than 21 percent did so in 2011. Turnout for primary and general local elections fluctuate from year to year, but long-term trends in many larger cities suggest voter interest has waned.

If local turnout doesn’t improve, the implications could extend much further than the ballot box. Low-turnout elections typically aren’t representative of the electorate as a whole, dominated by whiter, more-affluent and older voters. Recent research published by a UC San Diego professor found such elections contribute to poorer outcomes for minorities, including uneven prioritization of public spending.

Now here is the test for Ferguson, which actually had a higher turnout than the rest of St. Louis County, maintaining this turnout, if not growing it.

And yes, this matters to me at a highly wonky level. Not that elections by themselves have ever done anything on their own and by the way, this is part of the demobilization of the electorate that we are seeing nationwide. Is this a conspiracy? Not in a RICO standard...but the DOJ might illuminate some of this for you, regarding what they had to say about Ferguson elections. I guess the DOJ is in it as well. Go read the report. It could really be illuminating to the dynamics in your area of the country. Not that they are that exceptional either, by the way.