City of Frederick, Md "Change of Election Date" Update

George Wenschhof Bio

As the many readers of our site realize, I have been advocating a change from the current off-year election date for the City of Frederick, Maryland.

The Mayor has scheduled another public workshop for voters to weigh in on this proposed change. On Wednesday April 15, the workshop will be in the evening and begin at 7:00 PM. Also on the agenda is discussion on the proposed FY 2010 city budget. The city website has the schedule here.

The city election will take place as scheduled this year and will result in less than 35% of the registered voters weighing in on who will be their Mayor and Board of Aldermen.

I proposed back on November 28, 2008 the city move the election date to coincide with the Presidential election year which would result in more than double the current anemic voter turnout. You can read that column here.

On January 15, the Mayor and Board held a workshop to discuss this change. After listening to public testimony, the Mayor and 4 of the five Aldermen expressed support of the change to coincide with the presidential election year. Only Republican alderman Paul Smith expressed opposition to the change. You can read more here.

Mayor Jeff Holtzinger began publicizing February 10, 2009 on the city website requests for comments from city voters on this proposed change. You can read more here.

The passage of this change of election date by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen at a future meeting to be scheduled, would result in those winning election in November serving a three year term. Beginning in 2012, the Mayor and Aldermen would serve the traditional four year terms.

Support for this change has been bipartisan. Republican Alderman Alan Imhoff is one who has long advocated for this change in election date and is joined by Republican Mayor Jeff Holtzinger. Guy Djoken, the President of the Frederick chapter of the NAACP has also announced support for this change. Democratic candidate for Mayor Jason Judd has expressed support and Jennifer Dougherty indicated she would not oppose the change. In addition, the Frederick Young Democrats have voted to support this change in election date to coincide with the presidential election.

Opponents to the change have indicated they feel the voters would not be as informed on the issues pertaining to the city election in a presidential election year. While this argument sounds reasonable, there is no way to determine if the current 32% who do participate in the city election are "informed" voters. Also, during the presidential election year, the only other candidate on the ballot is the 6th District Congressional race. Experience has also shown that volunteers appear in the highest numbers during a presidential election year so this will benefit the candidates for local office.

The other option some have tossed out is moving the election date to coincide with the state and county elections. The thought here is the issues may have more in common. The voter turnout average in these elections is in the low 60% and would be a significant increase from the current 32% city voter turnout. However, this would further muddle a already very crowded ballot. In addition, to coincide with the state/county election cycle, the elected Mayor and Board in November would need to serve a five year term. It is unlikely voters would agree to a longer term for the Mayor and Aldermen.

Plan to attend the April 15 city workshop at 7:00 PM at City Hall to express your support for the change in the election date to coincide with the presidential election. It is past time to increase the voter participation in the City of Frederick elections.

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