Call it voter apathy, disinterest or disgust, but Tuesday's turnout at the polls proves what candidates have said for weeks: Miami Beach residents just weren't tuned in to politics this fall.

About 7,500 of some 46,000 registered voters cast ballots during the Nov. 3 elections, equaling an approximately 16 percent turnout -- the lowest in a Miami Beach general election this decade save for 2005, when just one commission seat was up for grabs.

This year, voters went to the polls to choose a mayor and three commissioners. Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Commissioner Jerry Libbin coasted to reelection, while the open Group 2 and 3 races are headed to a Nov. 17 runoff.

Donations were slow coming in and candidates predicted a light turnout Tuesday, considering there was no hot-button issue in the city or major national race to spur voters to the polls.

Voters concurred.

``There wasn't a big issue,'' said Alberto Mesa, a 54-year-old unemployed engineer who voted out of a sense of civic duty. ``It's not like there was a president's race.''

Miami Beach wasn't alone in terms of poor turnout. Homestead saw only 14 percent of voters at the polls. But voters in Hialeah and Miami turned out in greater mass than in Miami Beach.

Shortly before casting her own ballot Tuesday, Bower said many campaigns didn't get off the ground until September, leaving candidates without enough time to publicize their platforms and drum up interest.

``Even if you have a good issue you still have to develop it,'' she said.

In the race to replace termed-out Commissioner Saul Gross, Jorge Exposito and Maria Mayer earned a spot in a runoff, though neither garnered more than 39 percent of the vote.

Sherry Roberts, who is out of the race after coming in third, said she has no regrets.

``I played to win,'' she said. ``I'm disappointed but I'm extremely proud of the campaign I ran.''

In the Group 3 race, former Commissioner Michael Góngora easily won a spot in a runoff election, but his two opponents, Gabrielle Redfern and Alex Fernandez, were within 17 votes of each other after all but a few provisional ballots were counted. A recount was needed Friday to determine Góngora's opponent. Results were not available at deadline.

``It goes down to every single vote and that's why it's so important when there's a runoff to make sure everybody goes out to vote,'' said Fernandez, who hoped to gain on Redfern's slim lead by the end of the recount.

A number of voters said Tuesday, however, that the attacks against Fernandez and Góngora, and lately against Exposito and Mayer, confused and dissuaded some from voting.

``They put so much money into cutting each other down,'' said Bert Gonzalez, 46, after voting at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. ``It turns people off.''

The Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club has invited the runoff candidates in Groups 2 and 3 to debate 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning at David's Café.

Voters on Tuesday also approved all four proposed charter amendments, meaning:

• The city's Citizen's Bill of Rights now guarantees that city officials and employees will behave ethically, and provides for penalties for those who do not.

• A unanimous commission vote or voter approval is now needed before the city can sell or swap street-ends that run up against golf courses, government land or waterfront land.

• Land sales, leases or transfers that do not require voter approval will now require approval from six of seven voting members on the city commission, along with four of seven members on the city's Planning Board.

• Any decision by the city to waive a 175-parking space requirement for the New World Symphony or extend a deal to provide the parking at a city garage would need voter approval.

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