Know to Vote! April 3 Local Election Guide

Tuesday is election day, and voters will once again be going to the polls to make democracy happen. Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Find your polling place by entering your address here. Here's Patch's guide to the races with links to our coverage of the candidates.

TWO TAX INCREASES ON THE BALLOT

Prop A: The Affton Fire Protection District to pay for adding an ambulance to their fleet and hiring six new EMTs to staff it. The district says its current single ambulance has been increasingly overtaxed by the new senior centers moving into the area.

Prop B: Bayless School District to support increase to dig them out of their .

ST. LOUIS COUNTY BOND ISSUE

Prop S: St. Louis County is asking voters to pass to pay for the construction of a new county family court and to fund needed repairs to the county circuit court.

SHREWSBURY BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Ward 2 has proven to be the political hotspot of Shrewsbury. Last year in an election that served as a proxy for the contentious debate over a proposed Walmart-anchored redevelopment of Kenrick Plaza.

This year, with public progress on the redevelopment stalled, the tenor of the election is more genial—but once again a Ward 2 resident has challenged the ward’s incumbent alderman. Click each candidate's name to read a full Patch profile:

• – incumbent of 2 years

Patch will be profiling these two candidates before the election. In the other wards, incumbents Sam Scherer (Ward 1) and Chris Gorman (Ward 3) are running unopposed.

SCHOOLS

In the , the incumbents Doug Beck and Larry Knox are running unopposed for their 3-year seats.

There was also a 2-year term opened when Mike Alexander . The seat is currently occupied by Patricia Zahn, who to fill the seat until the election in July.

Two candidates will vie for the 2-year term:

• – incumbent
• Jason Harman

At the , three candidates are running for two 3-year terms. School board member Ed Tritschler chose not to file for reelection.

• Jeff Robinson — incumbent
• Stephan Pope
• Mike Fox

In the Lindbergh School District there are four candidates seeking two 3-year terms on the school board. Neither incumbant has filed for reelection. The candiates are:

• — Concord
• — Sappington
• — Sunset Hills
• — Sunset Hills

Click a candidate’s name to read their responses to a Patch questionnaire.

GREEN PARK BOARD OF ALDERMEN

The also has a challenger in Ward 2. The two candidates for the two-year position are:

• Jackie Wilson – incumbent
• Mark Friederich

Friederich ran unsuccessfully against Mayor Tony Konopta. This year, as last year, Friederich did not return calls, but The Call profiled incumbent Wilson. The Call also reported that a write-in candidate has challenged Ward 1 incumbent Carol Hamilton, who otherwise runs unopposed. Ward 3 incumbent Fred Baras is running unopposed.

GRANTWOOD VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Board of Trustees has five candidates running for two open seats:

• - incumbent chairwoman
• - incumbent
• Bill Hypes
• Walter Rust
• Will Larson

Look for profiles of these candidates on Patch before the election.

MARLBOROUGH BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Village of Board of Trustees has two candidates for two 2-year seats. The seats will be filled by the incumbents Jan Boergadine and Joan Doebber.

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

There are two candidates running for the Subdistrict 3 seat on the SLCC Board of Trustess.

They include Bob Burns (Affton), who was appointed by the board to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of JoAnn Ordinachev in December 2011; and Webster Groves Joan H. McGivney (Webster Groves), a former Southwestern Bell Corp. employee who owns a company that manufactures and distributes a children’s geography game. Learn more about the candidates by visiting the SLCC webite.

Burns is well known in Affton for his outspoken politics, his time on the Affton School Board and his role as the for . Burns has also filed to compete in the August democratic primary for the 93rd Missouri House of Representatives district.

The winner will serve for the one-year balance of Ordinachev’s term, which expires in 2013. Subdistrict 3 includes southern and southwest portions of St. Louis City and the Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Affton, Bayless, Brentwood, Kirkwood and Webster Groves school districts.

Updated April 3, 2:50 a.m. with links and STLCC information.