OTP: Vote for me -- NOT!

Even Running Unopposed, Small-Town Missouri
Candidate Gets No Votes - Not Even From Himself
04-05-2007 7:26 AM

MISSOURI CITY, Missouri -- Joe Selle didn't exactly get
voted out office this week, but he wasn't re-elected, either.

Selle, who was running unopposed for City Council, didn't
get any votes at all. Not even one from himself.

Selle, 42, said he simply forgot that Tuesday was election
day, and apparently so did Ward 3's other 34 registered
voters.

The result was zero votes cast in Selle's race, but the city
charter lets him keep the seat unless someone else is
"successfully elected and qualified," the city attorney said.

Selle, a professional musician, was recently
appointed to fill a council vacancy and had been
seeking a full term.

He said he saw other residents at the school
where the voting was held, "but it never
occurred to me that's what they were there for."

"It's pretty small-town stuff down here, man,"

Selle said of the Missouri River town of about
300 residents, 16 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Turnout was better in Ward 2, where two people voted.