PELLA, Iowa — Many local elections in Iowa were close on Tuesday, but a referendum in Pella was one of the closest.
That's because just over 51% of residents voted against the measure to stop the city council from overseeing the library board, controlling how it budgets and deciding whether it will pull certain books from its shelves.
Tuesday's decision was separated by just 87 votes, maintaining the Pella Public Library's independence.
Local 5 spoke with four women who advocated to protect their city library from what they called city official censorship.
"I think it's extremely important in Pella, because it is such a diverse community," said Anne Blazek, the volunteer co-coordinator for the "Vote NO to Save Our Library" committee. "And the vote shows that."
The referendum made ballots this election after some Pella residents requested to remove "Gender Queer: A Memoir" from the city library and give the city council oversight over the library's regulations.
"Some of the reasons why people thought the library needed to be under city council, was because there was no oversight," said Allie Thomas, the committee's volunteer co-coordinator.
Previously, the Pella City Council and public library's board of trustees reviewed residents' request, but they decided to keep the book in the library and allowed the library to maintain their autonomy.
In the past few years, there have been many challenges to remove books at school libraries statewide, but residents voting to remove them at a city level, like in Pella, is uncommon.
However, since Tuesday's referendum failed, the Pella Public Library will continue to make their own rules.
Under Iowa law, it would take four years for a similar measure to make the ballot in Pella again.