The St. Louis Association of Organizations (SLACO) has worked with 33 neighborhoods since March 1 to register 25 new voters in the city for April’s election — an effort that will continue by educating voters through social media outreach.
Those neighborhoods are located throughout the city and include Baden, Walnut Park West, and Hyde Park up north and Tower Grove South, Holly Hills and Marine Ville down south.
Kevin McKinney, SLACO executive director, said that while their goal was to register 40 people before the registration initiative ended Wednesday, 25 new voters is about right for this time frame.
The next part of the initiative, according to McKinney, is sharing information about debates, forums and other informative resources through SLACO’sFacebook page andTwitter account.
“Then the education [component] is to share information regarding the election to people that are eligible to vote,” he said. “These are your candidates — these are what they stand for. So, we are educating people on the voting process as well as who the candidates are. Attend this Zoom meeting, check out this particular debate — making people aware these things are available to them for them to learn what the election is all about.”
The executive director did note that the organization does not endorse or support specific candidates in any election.
“So, we’re just notifying people of opportunities that are out there to hear about the candidates,” McKinney said. “So, I’m looking on social media and whenever some group has a debate, we’re sharing that information with our people.”
In addition to the social media postings, McKinney said SLACO has about 10 community volunteers who are canvassing neighborhoods and handing out flyers with information about when the election is and where their polling places are.
SLACO is partnering in this effort with Neighborhood FORWARD, an organization McKinney said is located in several cities.
“They are a group of people that are interested in trying to get people registered to vote, they’re interested in trying to educate people about the voting process — so it’s kind of a natural fit,” he said.
Neighborhood FORWARD’s website bills itself as a national movement built by concerned citizens, faith leaders, civil rights activists, elected officials, business partners and non-profit organizations around the nation.
“We are dedicated to action on the grassroots level, one neighborhood at a time,” the website states.
While these efforts rev up, voter turnout in March’s primary dropped by more than 6% when compared to turnout in the city’s last mayoral primary in 2017.
That’s something McKinney said he’s disappointed in. He hopes the April election brings out at least 30% of registered voters, which is the same percentage of voters that cast ballots in the 2017 general mayoral election.
“I just think that they ought to understand that it is very important that they get out to vote, and if they have any questions regarding the process or what’s going on they can email us,” McKinney said of the city’s voters.
SLACO can be reached through email at info@slaco-mo.org. More information can be found onwww.slaco-mo.org or on their Facebook page atwww.facebook.com/314SLACO.