Early voting possible for 2017 city election
The Frederick News-Post - 05/29/2016
The Frederick New Page : A03
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2016
fredericknewspost.com Vol. 133 No. 228 6 sections
Early voting possible for 2017 city election By NANCY LAVIN [email protected]
Frederick residents unable or uninterested in voting on Election Day may have another option. The city mayor and Board of Aldermen are considering offering early voting in the 2017 municipal election, based on a recommendation in April from the Board of Supervisors of Elections. As proposed, city residents could cast ballots ahead of the 2017 primary and general election through two days of early voting at a single polling place within the city. Early voting is among a series of election-related topics the mayor and board of aldermen have tasked the election board to research and recommend possible changes. Most topics relate to ways to increase overall turnout and access in city elections.
Turnout spike unlikely
Locals fly to
increase voter turnout. In 2013, when the most recent election was held, 23.53 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Early voting likely won’t change that. Turnout numbers in other Maryland jurisdictions with early voting don’t show a strong correlation between the two. “It just seems to spread out the number of dedicated voters coming out each [election],” James Hammond, the city election board chairman, said at the board’s April meeting. The city of Gaithersburg introduced early voting for its 2013 election. The number of voters who cast ballots that year decreased from the prior election — 5.40 percent in 2013 compared with 9.31 percent in 2011, according to official city election results. When early voting was offered a second time, in the 2015 election, turnout grew to 11.02 percent. Lauren Klingler, an election clerk for Gaithersburg, attributed the changes in (See VOTING A5)
City elected officials have long sought to
Early voting comparisons Gaithersburg
Rockville
Frederick County
Frederick city (proposed)
First year offered•
2013
2015
2010
2017
Cost••
$300/day
$780/day
$1,383/day
n/a
Days
2 days
2 days
6 days
2 days
General election/ primary
yes/no
yes/no
yes/yes
yes/yes
Location
City Hall
City Hall
Frederick Senior Center
Talley Rec Center
Early voting ballots cast
103
613
5,810
n/a
Other ballots cast•••
1,634
5,855
66,721
n/a
•All chart data is based on information from the first year each jurisdiction offered early voting. Turnout numbers and logistics have changed in subsequent years. ••Cost covers payment for election judges. Other costs such as supplies and vote-counting machines were not included. •••Reflects number of ballots cast through absentee, provisional and election day voting Sources: Stuart Harvey, election director for Frederick County; Sara Taylor-Ferrell, acting deputy city clerk for Rockville; Lauren Klingler, elections clerk for Gaithersburg; Saundra Nickols, Frederick city attorney
Frederick’s Jaida Smith, 400-meter relay, and pl jump on Saturday, earni championships at Morg
MOUNT ST. MARY’S
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 05/29/2016 December 27, 2016 4:36 pm (GMT +5:00)
Administrator: Media attention Powered by TECNAVIA
The Frederick News-Post - 05/29/2016
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2016
|
Copy Reduced to 79% from original to fit letter page
FROM PAGE ONE
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
Voting
FREDERICK COUNTY ELECTION TURNOUT
(Continued from A1) turnout to other factors, most notably if the races were contested. The 2013 election was uncontested, while the 2015 city election featured multiple candidates vying for mayoral and council seats. Frederick County election results also indicate early voting had little to no effect on voter turnout. As Hammond noted, elections held in years that align with presidential races in general draw a larger number of voters than midterm election years. In the 2008 election, which pitted Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama against Republican John McCain, 83.06 percent of eligible county residents cast ballots, according to certified county election results. Obama’s second bid for the presidency, in 2012, election drew 79.35 percent of county voters to the polls. The 2010 gubernatorial election, in contrast, had 52.68 percent turnout. The 2010 election was the first one in the county with early voting, based on legislation the Maryland General Assembly passed in 2009. Only 5,810 residents of the 72,531 who cast ballots in 2010 — about 8 percent — did so during the six days of early voting. “It was slow,” Stuart Harvey, election director for Frederick County, recalled of the foot traffic at the Frederick Senior Center during the early voting period in 2010. The senior center was the only early voting site then. There are now three. But, he added, “[Early voting] was something people were not used to.”
100
86.7%
(103,713 votes)
(66,721 votes)
(69,990 votes)
Other ballots cast* Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20 13.3%
11.8%
0%
8% (5,810 votes)
(13,854 votes)
(10,710 votes)
2008
2010
2012
2014
GAITHERSBURG ELECTION TURNOUT 100
88.5%
94.1%
100%
(3,278 votes)
(1,634 votes)
(2,899 votes)
Other ballots cast* Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20
0
0% 2011
11.5%
5.9% (103 votes)
(426 votes)
2013
2015
Election year
ROCKVILLE ELECTION TURNOUT 100
100%
Other ballots cast*
90.5%
(6,686 votes)
(5,855 votes)
Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20
0
9.5% (613 votes)
0% 2013
2015 Election year
* includes provisional, absentee and Election Day ballots Source: Certified election results for Frederick County, the city of Gaithersburg and the city of Rockville.
compared with 5.9 percent in 2013. The city of Rockville began early voting in its 2015 election. A little more than 600 residents voted early — about 9.5 percent of the 5,855 votes cast in the election. Despite the small percentage of early voters,
Mount
those who participated gave positive feedback, according to Sara Taylor-Ferrell, acting deputy city clerk in Rockville. “I think, overall, they liked the convenience of it,” Taylor-Ferrell said. Though the change didn’t increase voter turn-
everyone as much opportunity and as many avenues as possible [to vote,]” she said in a phone interview last month. Even if early voting only draws from the pool of Frederick residents who would vote anyway, it’s a service worth providing, Hammond said. “I’m not even going to worry [about turnout]. It’s more about convenience,” he said in the board’s April meeting.
Details debated
Election year
A matter of convenience The number of Frederick county residents who voted early instead of through same-day, absentee or provisional ballots has increased slowly in every election since 2010. Eight percent of total votes were cast early in 2010, then 11.8 percent in the 2012 election and 13.3 percent in the 2014 election. A larger percentage of Gaithersburg voters also voted early when it was offered the second time in the 2015 election — 11.5 percent of those who voted,
88.2%
92%
100%
(111,520 votes)
0
Page : A07
out, the city plans to continue offering early voting in future elections because of the convenience, Ferrell said. Klingler also framed the benefit of early voting in Gaithersburg as one of opportunity. “We would like to give
Unlike Gaithersburg and Rockville municipal elections, which are nonpartisan, Frederick city holds a primary for candidates in each party prior to the November general election. Election board members agreed early voting should be offered for both the general and primary city elections. The logistics of where, when and how long early voting should be offered, however, prompted a lengthier discussion. The board ultimately recommended two days of early voting for each election — Aug. 26 and 27 for the Sept. 12 primary and Oct. 28 and 29 for the Nov. 7 general election, according to the report submitted by Saundra Nickols, the city attorney. But in comments at the meeting on Wednesday, Harvey cautioned against Saturday and Sunday as early voting days. He said weekends were traditionally the weakest days for early voting turnout in Frederick County elections. In the 2016 primary election, for example, Saturday and Sunday drew 496 and 396 Frederick County voters, respectively, to the polls, according to certified early voting election results. More than 1,000 residents voted early on each of the six other early voting days, apart from Monday. The final day of early voting drew more than 1,600 voters. “It’s not terribly cost-effective,” Harvey said of weekend early voting, compared with weekdays. He suggested changing the election board’s proposal to include at least one weekday. He also said limiting polling hours on a weekend would help save money on staffing during slower traffic times. Paying election judges
|
A5
to supervise at polling places is the primary cost associated with early voting. Frederick County paid an average of $1,383 per day for judges to supervise early voting in 2010, according to Harvey. Gaithersburg spent about $300 per day to pay its election judges, while Rockville’s staffing costs averaged $780 day, according to information provided by Klingler and Taylor-Ferrell. All three jurisdictions used government-owned buildings as polling places, eliminating the need for to pay a rental fee for the space. The city election board proposed the William R. Talley Recreation Center as the tentative location for early voting in Frederick. But several aldermen on Wednesday said they were worried about the lack of parking at the downtown recreation center. They instead expressed support for Harvey’s suggestion to use the Frederick Senior Center on Taney Avenue. The city would need Frederick County’s approval to use the Taney Avenue building, however, which may mean with a rental fee. Other possible costs include supplies and ballot-counting machines.
Next steps Adding an early voting option for Frederick city elections requires a change to the city’s charter. Legally, the aldermen must approve a change at least 50 days in advance, according to Nickols. That leaves a little more than a year to enact the change, if the city plans to move forward with early voting ahead of the September 2017 primary. And practically speaking, a major change like early voting needs approval “way before” that 50-day limit, Nickols said. The details still have to be worked out. But all three aldermen present on Wednesday — Alderwomen Kelly Russell and Donna Kuzemchak and Alderman Josh Bokee — indicated support for the proposal. “People may not take advantage of [early voting,]” Kuzemchak said. “That’s a choice. Our job is to provide [the service] regardless.” Follow Nancy Lavin on Twitter: @NancyKLavin.
Assaults (Continued from A1)
(Continued from A1)
of media coverage that focused on the firings of two faculty members and an alleged plan to cull members of the previous freshman class. Newman to a Family, controversial metaphor Copyrightadmitted © 2016 Randall LLC 05/29/2016 December 27, 2016 4:37students pm (GMT to +5:00) in which he compared bunnies that drowned and have “a Glock [put] to their heads.” The Mount’s Board of Trustees appointed a longtime figure at the school as acting president — Karl
their decisions and policies to protect the rights of the accused, said attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who filed federal lawsuits targeting the letter in Colorado and Georgia. Complaints that schools must do more to respond to
med student who dreamed of playing in the NFL and becoming a doctor until he was suspended from Colorado State University-Pueblo. Neal’s lawsuit against the Powered TECNAVIA school andbythe Office of Civil Rights says a student trainer — identified as Jane Doe — wasn’t supposed to date
The Frederick New Page : A03
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2016
fredericknewspost.com Vol. 133 No. 228 6 sections
Early voting possible for 2017 city election By NANCY LAVIN [email protected]
Frederick residents unable or uninterested in voting on Election Day may have another option. The city mayor and Board of Aldermen are considering offering early voting in the 2017 municipal election, based on a recommendation in April from the Board of Supervisors of Elections. As proposed, city residents could cast ballots ahead of the 2017 primary and general election through two days of early voting at a single polling place within the city. Early voting is among a series of election-related topics the mayor and board of aldermen have tasked the election board to research and recommend possible changes. Most topics relate to ways to increase overall turnout and access in city elections.
Turnout spike unlikely
Locals fly to
increase voter turnout. In 2013, when the most recent election was held, 23.53 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Early voting likely won’t change that. Turnout numbers in other Maryland jurisdictions with early voting don’t show a strong correlation between the two. “It just seems to spread out the number of dedicated voters coming out each [election],” James Hammond, the city election board chairman, said at the board’s April meeting. The city of Gaithersburg introduced early voting for its 2013 election. The number of voters who cast ballots that year decreased from the prior election — 5.40 percent in 2013 compared with 9.31 percent in 2011, according to official city election results. When early voting was offered a second time, in the 2015 election, turnout grew to 11.02 percent. Lauren Klingler, an election clerk for Gaithersburg, attributed the changes in (See VOTING A5)
City elected officials have long sought to
Early voting comparisons Gaithersburg
Rockville
Frederick County
Frederick city (proposed)
First year offered•
2013
2015
2010
2017
Cost••
$300/day
$780/day
$1,383/day
n/a
Days
2 days
2 days
6 days
2 days
General election/ primary
yes/no
yes/no
yes/yes
yes/yes
Location
City Hall
City Hall
Frederick Senior Center
Talley Rec Center
Early voting ballots cast
103
613
5,810
n/a
Other ballots cast•••
1,634
5,855
66,721
n/a
•All chart data is based on information from the first year each jurisdiction offered early voting. Turnout numbers and logistics have changed in subsequent years. ••Cost covers payment for election judges. Other costs such as supplies and vote-counting machines were not included. •••Reflects number of ballots cast through absentee, provisional and election day voting Sources: Stuart Harvey, election director for Frederick County; Sara Taylor-Ferrell, acting deputy city clerk for Rockville; Lauren Klingler, elections clerk for Gaithersburg; Saundra Nickols, Frederick city attorney
Frederick’s Jaida Smith, 400-meter relay, and pl jump on Saturday, earni championships at Morg
MOUNT ST. MARY’S
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 05/29/2016 December 27, 2016 4:36 pm (GMT +5:00)
Administrator: Media attention Powered by TECNAVIA
The Frederick News-Post - 05/29/2016
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2016
|
Copy Reduced to 79% from original to fit letter page
FROM PAGE ONE
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
Voting
FREDERICK COUNTY ELECTION TURNOUT
(Continued from A1) turnout to other factors, most notably if the races were contested. The 2013 election was uncontested, while the 2015 city election featured multiple candidates vying for mayoral and council seats. Frederick County election results also indicate early voting had little to no effect on voter turnout. As Hammond noted, elections held in years that align with presidential races in general draw a larger number of voters than midterm election years. In the 2008 election, which pitted Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama against Republican John McCain, 83.06 percent of eligible county residents cast ballots, according to certified county election results. Obama’s second bid for the presidency, in 2012, election drew 79.35 percent of county voters to the polls. The 2010 gubernatorial election, in contrast, had 52.68 percent turnout. The 2010 election was the first one in the county with early voting, based on legislation the Maryland General Assembly passed in 2009. Only 5,810 residents of the 72,531 who cast ballots in 2010 — about 8 percent — did so during the six days of early voting. “It was slow,” Stuart Harvey, election director for Frederick County, recalled of the foot traffic at the Frederick Senior Center during the early voting period in 2010. The senior center was the only early voting site then. There are now three. But, he added, “[Early voting] was something people were not used to.”
100
86.7%
(103,713 votes)
(66,721 votes)
(69,990 votes)
Other ballots cast* Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20 13.3%
11.8%
0%
8% (5,810 votes)
(13,854 votes)
(10,710 votes)
2008
2010
2012
2014
GAITHERSBURG ELECTION TURNOUT 100
88.5%
94.1%
100%
(3,278 votes)
(1,634 votes)
(2,899 votes)
Other ballots cast* Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20
0
0% 2011
11.5%
5.9% (103 votes)
(426 votes)
2013
2015
Election year
ROCKVILLE ELECTION TURNOUT 100
100%
Other ballots cast*
90.5%
(6,686 votes)
(5,855 votes)
Ballots cast early
80
60
40
20
0
9.5% (613 votes)
0% 2013
2015 Election year
* includes provisional, absentee and Election Day ballots Source: Certified election results for Frederick County, the city of Gaithersburg and the city of Rockville.
compared with 5.9 percent in 2013. The city of Rockville began early voting in its 2015 election. A little more than 600 residents voted early — about 9.5 percent of the 5,855 votes cast in the election. Despite the small percentage of early voters,
Mount
those who participated gave positive feedback, according to Sara Taylor-Ferrell, acting deputy city clerk in Rockville. “I think, overall, they liked the convenience of it,” Taylor-Ferrell said. Though the change didn’t increase voter turn-
everyone as much opportunity and as many avenues as possible [to vote,]” she said in a phone interview last month. Even if early voting only draws from the pool of Frederick residents who would vote anyway, it’s a service worth providing, Hammond said. “I’m not even going to worry [about turnout]. It’s more about convenience,” he said in the board’s April meeting.
Details debated
Election year
A matter of convenience The number of Frederick county residents who voted early instead of through same-day, absentee or provisional ballots has increased slowly in every election since 2010. Eight percent of total votes were cast early in 2010, then 11.8 percent in the 2012 election and 13.3 percent in the 2014 election. A larger percentage of Gaithersburg voters also voted early when it was offered the second time in the 2015 election — 11.5 percent of those who voted,
88.2%
92%
100%
(111,520 votes)
0
Page : A07
out, the city plans to continue offering early voting in future elections because of the convenience, Ferrell said. Klingler also framed the benefit of early voting in Gaithersburg as one of opportunity. “We would like to give
Unlike Gaithersburg and Rockville municipal elections, which are nonpartisan, Frederick city holds a primary for candidates in each party prior to the November general election. Election board members agreed early voting should be offered for both the general and primary city elections. The logistics of where, when and how long early voting should be offered, however, prompted a lengthier discussion. The board ultimately recommended two days of early voting for each election — Aug. 26 and 27 for the Sept. 12 primary and Oct. 28 and 29 for the Nov. 7 general election, according to the report submitted by Saundra Nickols, the city attorney. But in comments at the meeting on Wednesday, Harvey cautioned against Saturday and Sunday as early voting days. He said weekends were traditionally the weakest days for early voting turnout in Frederick County elections. In the 2016 primary election, for example, Saturday and Sunday drew 496 and 396 Frederick County voters, respectively, to the polls, according to certified early voting election results. More than 1,000 residents voted early on each of the six other early voting days, apart from Monday. The final day of early voting drew more than 1,600 voters. “It’s not terribly cost-effective,” Harvey said of weekend early voting, compared with weekdays. He suggested changing the election board’s proposal to include at least one weekday. He also said limiting polling hours on a weekend would help save money on staffing during slower traffic times. Paying election judges
|
A5
to supervise at polling places is the primary cost associated with early voting. Frederick County paid an average of $1,383 per day for judges to supervise early voting in 2010, according to Harvey. Gaithersburg spent about $300 per day to pay its election judges, while Rockville’s staffing costs averaged $780 day, according to information provided by Klingler and Taylor-Ferrell. All three jurisdictions used government-owned buildings as polling places, eliminating the need for to pay a rental fee for the space. The city election board proposed the William R. Talley Recreation Center as the tentative location for early voting in Frederick. But several aldermen on Wednesday said they were worried about the lack of parking at the downtown recreation center. They instead expressed support for Harvey’s suggestion to use the Frederick Senior Center on Taney Avenue. The city would need Frederick County’s approval to use the Taney Avenue building, however, which may mean with a rental fee. Other possible costs include supplies and ballot-counting machines.
Next steps Adding an early voting option for Frederick city elections requires a change to the city’s charter. Legally, the aldermen must approve a change at least 50 days in advance, according to Nickols. That leaves a little more than a year to enact the change, if the city plans to move forward with early voting ahead of the September 2017 primary. And practically speaking, a major change like early voting needs approval “way before” that 50-day limit, Nickols said. The details still have to be worked out. But all three aldermen present on Wednesday — Alderwomen Kelly Russell and Donna Kuzemchak and Alderman Josh Bokee — indicated support for the proposal. “People may not take advantage of [early voting,]” Kuzemchak said. “That’s a choice. Our job is to provide [the service] regardless.” Follow Nancy Lavin on Twitter: @NancyKLavin.
Assaults (Continued from A1)
(Continued from A1)
of media coverage that focused on the firings of two faculty members and an alleged plan to cull members of the previous freshman class. Newman to a Family, controversial metaphor Copyrightadmitted © 2016 Randall LLC 05/29/2016 December 27, 2016 4:37students pm (GMT to +5:00) in which he compared bunnies that drowned and have “a Glock [put] to their heads.” The Mount’s Board of Trustees appointed a longtime figure at the school as acting president — Karl
their decisions and policies to protect the rights of the accused, said attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who filed federal lawsuits targeting the letter in Colorado and Georgia. Complaints that schools must do more to respond to
med student who dreamed of playing in the NFL and becoming a doctor until he was suspended from Colorado State University-Pueblo. Neal’s lawsuit against the Powered TECNAVIA school andbythe Office of Civil Rights says a student trainer — identified as Jane Doe — wasn’t supposed to date
