St. Louis Park Primaries, By the Numbers

The dust has settled on St. Louis Park's 2011 City Council primary election, and .

It was the third time the city has had a primary in the last four elections, with 2007 being the exception. A primary is required in St. Louis Park anytime three or more people file for one seat. The primary then whittles the pool down to two for the upcoming general election.

In 2005, Susan Sanger and Ann Thomas advanced from Ward 1, and C. Paul Carver and Michael Cohn advanced from Ward 4. In 2009, Julia Ross and Bill Theobald made it through in Ward 4.

Primaries are known for having significantly lower turnouts than the following general elections. In 2005, 1,004 people voted in the two primary races. Those races saw 2,516 come to the polls in the fall, out of a total of 3,993 votes cast in city elections that year.

It was the same story in 2009, when only 307 people voted in the single primary. There were 762 votes cast in the Ward 4 race later that fall, out of a total of 3,023.

By comparison, this year's primary vote total was actually quite high for a single race—1,465 people voted in St. Louis Park on Tuesday—but the seat up for election was an at-large seat, meaning the whole city could vote, not just a single ward.

Of course, the turnout looks really low when compared to the number of registered voters—28,880, as reported by the city clerk.

All of these numbers make St. Louis Park's historical numbers seem, so, well, historic. In 1886, a majority of 66 voters decided to incorporate St. Louis Park as a village, according to the St. Louis Park Historical Society. According to records, 350 people lived in St. Louis Park at that time. In the first village president (aka, mayoral) election a short time later, won with a whopping 36 votes.