The killing of the 18-year-old Michael Brown back in August sparked outrage in the city of Ferguson, MO and beyond. While some were rioting and looting, others decided to take another route to cause change. It turns out that voter registration booths were present while peaceful protests were going on in the city and surrounding neighborhoods. USA Today reports that since the killing of the unarmed teen, St. Louis County has seen a spike in voter registration with 4.839 people getting registered. The residents of Ferguson account for 3,287 of them. This boost is believed to have been sparked by Brown’s killing and motivated more residents in Ferguson to have an interest in politics. Since two-thirds of the Ferguson population is African American, the black vote will be more prevalent at the upcoming election.
“It’s a great move when people come out and register in mass like that,” Anthony Bell of the St. Louis 3rd Ward committeeman told USA Today. “They are sending a signal that we want a change. It doesn’t give justice to the Michael Brown family, but it will in the future give justice to how the administration is run in a local municipality like Ferguson.”
New voters will be able to hit the polls in November and vote for the county executive and then again in April for city council representatives.