City of Frederick, MD Officials Express Support for Election Date Change

George Wenschhof Bio

During a Mayor and Board workshop meeting yesterday afternoon, Mayor Jeff Holtzinger and four of the five aldermen expressed support for moving the City of Frederick Election Date to coincide with the Presidential election. Only Alderman Paul Smith indicated he would not support the change. His reason, as we reported earlier, was he felt city issues would get lost in the national election.

Bill Ashton, a long-time city government watchdog, pointed out the candidates for the many Frederick County elected offices had never complained that the Governor's race and state issues had received all of the attention in their election. The Frederick County and Maryland state elections are combined and will be held next year.

This change of the city election date to coincide with the Presidential election year would more than double the current anemic 32% voter turnout and also most likely result in some cost savings to city taxpayers.

Public comments in support of the change included many of the Frederick Young Democrats who had earlier issued a press release stating their support for this change. Guy Djoken, President of the Frederick County Chapter of the NAACP also testified in favor of moving the date.

I mentioned Alderman Alan Imhoff and I had long been supporters of this change. I pointed out that when I ran for Alderman in 1997, the population of the city had doubled in the 25 years since I had graduated from Governor Thomas Johnson High School in 1971 - yet the voter turnout was only in 30% range. In the 2005 election, when the current Mayor and Board were elected, the turnout was only 31.75%.

One dissenting comment came from a member of the Green Party who felt city issues would be lost if the elections were combined.

If passed, the charter amendment would result in the city officials elected in November serving a three year term to 2012, at which time the city election would coincide with the presidential elections.

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Frederick County President NAACP and Frederick County Young Democrats Support Change in City of Frederick Election Date

George Wenschhof Bio

On Monday, I published a column entitled "City of Frederick, MD Election Date Change Update". The column was an update on discussion to change the city election date to coincide with the presidential election year. This would double the current anemic 32% voter turnout in the city and most likely save the taxpayers money by reducing an election year.

We received the following comment from Guy Djoken, President of the Frederick County, Maryland Chapter NAACP "As the president of the Frederick County NAACP, I am supporting this initiative for the simple fact that it will more than double voter participation while lowering the cost for running the future elections."

I reported in the column the support by the Frederick County, Maryland Young Democrats and last night they issued a press release which said the following:

This past Sunday, Frederick County Young Democrats (FYD) voted unanimously to support moving the City's next election after this year from 2013 to 2012. The vote came from discussion of strategies to improve voter turnout for the upcoming City election in November. In the Presidential Election of 2004, there was a voter turnout of 83% Countywide and more than 15000 people voted at the City's precincts alone. This when compared to the voter turnout of the last City election in 2005, 31.75% and just over 9100 votes, begins to raise the question as to whether it would be more advantageous to the City for elected City officials elected in November to serve a 3 year term, and to continue aligning City elections with Presidential elections in the future.

When asked why FYD voted in support of this idea, FYD President Burke Miller responded, "We feel that it would best serve the residents of Frederick City to hold the next election cycle a year earlier, in 2012 to line up with the next Presidential Election, because it will create and attract more attention to issues that effect City residents. Along with creating more attention for these issues, it will allow voters to learn more about the candidates running for office in the City. It is also a way for the City to save money by not having to run its own election, something that is much needed in a time of budget crunches across the State."

Also, yesterday on the WFMD AM radio "Blaine Young" show, the co-hosts Tim May and Anita Stup who were subbing for Mr. Young both indicated their support for moving the election date to coincide with the presidential election year. Both are Republicans and Anita Stup was a former Frederick County Commissioner and Maryland state delegate.

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