The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will soon be at full membership for the first time since late February.
Dwinderlin Evans and Vicky Grass, both Democrats, won special elections Tuesday night to fill vacant seats in the 4th and 12th wards. The contests had originally been scheduled for May 19, but were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Turnout was 11.5%.
Evans, who was previously the Democratic committeewoman for the 4th Ward, will replace Sam Moore, who died Feb. 25 after a long illness. The ward covers the historic Ville neighborhood and most or all of five others in north St. Louis. There was no one else listed on the ballot, though write-in candidates got 28 votes in final unofficial results.
Grass, who spent nearly 30 years working for the Firefighters Retirement System, beat Republican Craig Westbrook 58% to 41% to fill the seat vacated when Larry Arnowitz resigned in March just before being charged with mail fraud. The 12th Ward is in southwest St. Louis, and includes the Boulevard Heights, Carondelet and Princeton Heights neighborhoods.
Arnowitz and Moore had both been re-elected to their seats in 2019. Under the city’s charter, Grass and Evans would have to run again in 2021 to serve the remainder of the terms, which end in 2023. They could then run for full terms at that election, which is scheduled to be the first to a reduced 14-member Board of Aldermen.
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