Republicans Drop, Unaffiliated Voters Gain in Frederick County

Illustration | Melanie Douez
Data comes from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

George Wenschhof

Voter party affiliation in Frederick County, Maryland, has shifted over the last 16 years, with Republicans showing the smallest gain. Out of 56,807 registered voters over the last 16 years, Republicans received (12,981-22.8 percent), Democrats (21,059-37.1 percent), and unaffiliated voters (21,193-37.3 percent).

Frederick County voter registration numbers as of end of September 2018 show Democratic registration is within 2,695 voters of Republicans. Sixteen years ago, Republicans had a 10,773 voter registration advantage over Democrats heading into the 2002 gubernatorial election.

Voters who decline to affiliate with a political party are the fastest growing number of voters in Frederick County and follow a trend that extends across the country. Unaffiliated voters in Frederick County have more than doubled in size from 16 years ago, increasing from 18,718 to 39,911 today.

Out of 174,636 total registered voters today, Republicans make up (67,637-38.7 percent), Democrats (64,942-37.2 percent) and unaffiliated voters (39,911-22.8 percent). Libertarian, Green and Other make up less than 2 percent of the registered voters.

Sixteen years ago, out of 117,829 registered voters, Republicans made up (54,656-46.3 percent), Democrats (43,883-37.2 percent) and unaffiliated voters (18,718-15.8 percent).

Maryland is a closed primary election, which means unaffiliated voters cannot vote in the primary election when voters of political parties determine their candidates who will appear in the general election. Unaffiliated voters can participate in nonpartisan primary elections such as the Board of Education race in Frederick County.

Deborah Carter, chair of the Frederick County state Democratic Central Committee, reflected on how Democrats have narrowed the gap with Republicans. “These things do tend to go in cycles,” she said. “Once upon a time, Frederick County Democrats outnumbered the Republicans, and it looks like it’s on track to happen again. However, the party is also evolving. Many old-school Democrats were what we now call ‘Dixiecrats,’ while today’s Dems are younger, smarter and more  progressive than ever before. We’re not only gaining on the Republicans in registrations. Democrats also saw much higher turnout in the primary than the Republicans did, and absentee ballot requests are almost two-to-one Dem. What this says to me is that Dems are more active, more energized and more excited about our candidates.”

Hoda Zaki, Virginia E. Lewis professor of political science at Hood College, noted, “The rise in unaffiliated voters is a sign that voters do not want to commit to one party, but wish to leave the door open to changing their vote depending on the particular election. This fluidity in political identification is related to the changes in both parties’ platforms. As political parties change and shift, voters respond in similar ways. Political parties and voters both are responding to very real challenges in the national and global economy.

“I’m not sure how to explain the drop in Republican voters, unless it can be explained by looking at the age and demographics of voters moving to Frederick County in recent years,” she added.

The chair and vice chair of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee did not respond to a request for comment before publication deadline.

If unaffiliated voters turn out, they will certainly have an impact on many local elections.

An unaffiliated candidate has never won a countywide election in Frederick County. However, two unaffiliated candidates are running in this election. The county executive race features three candidates for the first time: Kathy Afzali (R), Jan Gardner (D) and Earl Robbins (U). Also, the at-large (countywide) County Council race where voters elect two council members has five candidates: Susan Reeder Jessee (D), Kai Hagen (D), Phil Dacey (R), Danny Farrar (R) and Bud Otis (U).

Frederick County Elections Supervisor Stuart Harvey said, “Based on the turnout in the primary election and the increase in voter registration, I expect voter turnout to exceed 60 percent in the General Election Nov. 6, 2018.”

Early voting runs from Oct. 25 through Nov. 1. The General Election is Nov. 6.

Frederick County MD Sheriff to Run Unopposed

George Wenschhof

Incumbent Republican Sheriff Chuck Jenkins will now be the only candidate for Sheriff to appear on the ballot this fall.

Karl Bickel had announced back in April his intent to run as an "Unaffiliated" candidate for Sheriff. Bickel then followed up his announcement by filing a Declaration of Intent to seek nomination by petition.

As I reported back then, in order to appear on the ballot, he needed to obtain signatures from at least one per cent of the registered voters in Frederick County. The signatures would then need to be verified by the Frederick County Board of Elections.

Today, at 5:00 PM ET, the deadline to submit the signatures came and went without Mr. Bickel submitting any signatures to the Board of Elections.

The Elections Director informed me he received a phone message from Mr. Bickel a little after 2:00 PM that he had fallen short and would not be coming to submit signatures for verification today. As of 5:00, the Elections Director was deleting Mr. Bickel from the data base as a potential candidate for Sheriff.

The number of verified signatures needed for Mr. Bickel to have appeared on the ballot was 1,449. Interestingly, I received news from various sources who work in downtown Frederick, that they were approached for signatures for Mr. Bickel today.

The Frederick County Democratic Party did not field a candidate for this position, the Register of Wills position, or the State's Attorney position.

Voters still have the option to "write-in" a candidate in the election. However, no one can remember anyone being elected for a county wide position as a "write-in" candidate.

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Candidate Residency Requirement Rears It's Ugly Head Again in Frederick County Maryland

George Wenschhof

Two days after the July 6 candidate filing deadline, news comes that two candidates for Frederick County Board of Commissioners do not meet residency requirements and were disqualified by the Frederick County Board of Elections. The section of the County Charter quoted is as follows:

PART II CODE OF PUBLIC LOCAL LAWS OF FREDERICK COUNTY, 1979

CHAPTER 2-2: ADMINISTRATION

§ 2-2-19. Residency requirements.

(a) A candidate for county commissioner shall be a resident and registered voter of Frederick County for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of election.

(b) A county commissioner who no longer resides in Frederick County may not continue as a county commissioner.

(2006, Chapter 205, § 1)

Interestingly, the two candidates were a Democrat (Caroline Eader) and a Republican (Adam Avery).

Challenges to residency laws of candidates for public office have been struck down repeatedly by the courts as was the case locally prior to the 2005 City of Frederick election.

As some may recall, former four term Mayor Ron Young filed to run against incumbent first term Mayor; Jennifer Dougherty.

During Mr. Young's second marriage, he choose to move into his wife's home which was literally located across the street from the city boundary with the county.

However, sometime prior to filing for office, Mr. Young had moved to a home located within the City of Frederick.

Ms. Dougherty was quick to bring up the fact that Mr. Young did not meet the existing three year residency requirement of the city in order to run for office.

This led to Young filing suit with the court overturning the three year requirement, but stopping short of what length of time was acceptable; instead sending that back to the city to address.

The quick version of the rest of the story is Ron Young defeated Jennifer Dougherty in the Democratic primary election.

Interestingly, when Mayor Dougherty vetoed an earlier alderman vote to reduce the residency requirement to one year, which would have allowed Young to run, Alderman David Lenhart sued the mayor.

Upon receipt of the Judge's decision on the residency challenge by Ron Young, Mayor Dougherty rescinded her veto of the alderman vote to reduce the residency to one year.

This led to one of the more bizarre happenings in local elections. Amendments to the Charter take forty-five days before they are official, allowing for citizen appeal by petition.

During this 45 day period, there was technically no residency requirement in the city as the Judge had ruled the 3 year requirement unconstitutional and the charter amendment to change residency to one year was not official.

Two candidates for mayor filed during that 45 day period who did not live in the city. One, Republican Jeff Holtzinger was elected defeating Democrat Ron Young. Holtzinger choose not to run again after one term in office.

This incident is what led the Board of County Commissioners the following year in 2006, to address the residency requirements for candidates for county offices to what I provided at the beginning of this article.

So where does this leave the two candidates who were disqualified?

First, if the claim (I received as part of a group email) by Caroline Eader that she was not asked any residency or voter registration questions when she registered and received a packet indicating she was officially filed is true, it is a troubling omission by the Frederick County Board of Elections.

Second, it is questionable any residency requirement will withstand a constitutional challenge. The change to six months and a registered voter was an attempt in 2006 to make it a minor requirement, that hopefully would never be challenged as the City of Frederick's three residency had been in 2005.

The options for the candidates are to either accept the decision they are not eligible and wait until the following election, or file suit against the county residency and voter registration requirement.

If a suit is instituted, it is likely to be heard quickly as the primary is September 14. Money will then be spent by both a candidate(s) and the county government.

The more appropriate action would be for the Board of County Commissioners to vote to amend the charter by eliminating these candidate requirements, allowing these two candidates to run for office.

Voters can make the decision on what is important to them and candidates can point out the length of time other candidates have lived here or been registered to vote if they believe that is an important issue.

The prudent action is to allow Caroline Eader and Adam Avery to run for office and let the voters decide who they elect.

Update: 9:30 AM - during a conversation this morning with Stuart Harvey, Supervisor of Frederick County Board of Elections, it was realized the current form of county commissioner government could not amend the charter and a change would need to go before the state legislature. This would not happen before 2011, after the 2010 election. So, it appears the only recourse for the candidates is to sue and challenge the candidacy requirement.

Mr. Harvey also indicated they did provide to candidates paperwork which included statements to the effect they must meet all applicable laws and that they would be verified. However, specific information pertaining to the length of residency and voter registration is not provided.

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High School Voter Registration Drive Successful in Frederick County, MD

George Wenschhof

Over the last two weeks, all nine high schools in Frederick county were visited and voter registration conducted resulting in 413 new voters on file. This was a combined effort of the Frederick County Public Schools, Frederick County Board of Elections and the Frederick County League of Women Voters.

Students were informed if they were turning 18 by November 2, the date of the General Election this year, they could register to vote now and also be eligible to vote in the September 14 primary election.

Governor Thomas Johnson High School led all high schools in the number of new registrations with 110. The overall breakdown of the 413 new Frederick County voters is Democrats: 149 (36%), Republicans: 132 (32%), Independents: 55 (13.4%), Unaffiliated: 72 (17.5%) and Libertarians: 5 (.01%).

Frederick County Public Schools has a short video you can view here.

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