By Austin Petroski  |  [email protected]

Voter turnout for the City Council election Tuesday was slightly higher than expected in Iowa City.

Before the polls closed, Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert said expectations were for a very low turnout.

“It is going to be a tough push to get to 15 percent voter turnout,” Weipert said at the time.

Iowa City voters barely exceeded that total with 15.18 percent turnout. Previous elections have seen higher turnout.

In 2013, turnout was 22 percent. A proposal to remove the 21-ordinance was on the ballot, which caused many students at the University of Iowa to vote in the election.

Weipert said comparing this year with that year was like apples to oranges. Without the 21-ordinance, there was no “media circus” around this year’s election.

This year also saw three incumbents running for re-election, though candidate Jim Throgmorton was running for a different seat.

This year’s turnout was similar to 2011, which saw a voter turnout of 13.6 percent. 2007 had the highest turnout in the last 15 years with 34.31 percent — the year the 21-ordinance was originally on the ballot.

2009 had the lowest voter turnout of the 21st century, with 9.6 percent voters participating.

Part of the reason for the low turnout was the lack of awareness among students at the UI. Without any issues clearly affecting students at the UI, many said they were unaware the election was happening.

“I didn’t know the elections were going on, but I do understand the importance of them,” said UI junior Daimhin McGrath.

Many students might remember 2013, which saw a lot of students on campus campaigning to remove the ordinance allowing people under 21 to be in the bars after 10 p.m. The rule ultimately remained in place.

Rockne Cole, who won one of the two at-large seats in Tuesday’s elections, said he didn’t think this years’ low turnout affected the election.

“I don’t think the lack of voters had anything to do with the results. People who voted for us were motivated for us,” Cole said.