City Adds Candidate Info
City finally adds websites, social media to election site, adds new PSAs
If you look at the Maryland State Board of Elections page, you will find information on candidates such as their websites and social media sites if applicable. The site is updated daily and even includes candidates running for 2018 elections.
Looking at the City's 2017 election page over the past few months, residents would find standard information such as candidate names, party affiliations, address, phone number and contact email yet no links to social media or websites.
The Frederick Extra first asked Patti Mullins, the city's public information coordinator, about this discrepancy on June 22. "That information is not something we routinely collect and we don't have staff dedicated for that purpose as the State Board of Election does," she said via email.
In a follow-up email sent to Phyllis Hane, City of Frederick legislative clerk on July 13, Mullins answered July 14 via email that "I can't speak to what/why the state does but it does many things the City doesn't do."
The City was also catching heat for a minute and 20 second PSA it released in early July discussing the upcoming primary and general elections for mayor and Board of Aldermen. One of the most prominent people to raise concerns was Stuart Harvey, county election director. He didn't understand why early voting times and locations were not given along with alerting residents that only registered Republicans and Democrats may vote in the primary.
Harvey attended a City Board of Elections meeting on July 17 to voice his concerns on the PSA and the lack of information on the City's candidates page. In an interview after the meeting, Harvey said "I'm not just doing this as the election director, I am also doing this as a voter requesting that information be put up on the city's webpage."
In an about face, Hane sent an email out to candidates July 18 stating "In response to requests from the public, the City will now include additional information with the candidate listings on the City webpage." As of July 22, only the democratic mayoral candidates additional information had been submitted and posted. Five of the 15 candidates for aldermen had additional information. However, the listings only give the address -- not a link to click on.
Harvey believes it is important to have additional information on the website and in PSAs because "this is the first time the City has done early voting and so people aren't necessarily going to know a) that it exists, b) what the location is and c) what the hours are because the hours are unique for early voting," he said. "They are not the same as the hours for Election Day because it is only two days for the primary and two days for the general which is very different than what the state does because the state has eight days for early voting. It is just important to get that information out there so that the voters have that information."
Before the meeting, Mullins said in an email that "the PSA video ...was not meant to be a comprehensive documentary on 'how to vote' but rather a succinct heads-up that registration deadlines are approaching. We keep PSAs brief, and we will have more as early voting, the primary and general elections get closer. Upcoming PSAs will include details about locations and voting times."
As Harvey spoke with the board, he stressed the need to get as much information to the voters as possible since it was an off year election. "Certainly voter turnout in previous city elections has not been probably what they would like to see. I know both candidates and elected officials have been disappointed with the turnout in the last few city elections," he said in an interview after the meeting.
Harvey said he spoke with Mullins and requested he gets a chance to review new PSAs before they are distributed. "Hopefully I will see them to make sure everything that needs to be there is there," he said.
Jennifer Dougherty, democratic mayoral candidate, said this is an example of the City not being very proactive and making residents search for information. She added she has learned to use the internet and social media for almost everything.
"That's how people are these days, young people particularly and if we want to encourage people to vote we have to encourage them to have information," Dougherty said. "Being so slow to propose good ways to get people information is just antiquated. It's an old way of thinking. I'm glad they have responded but it is another example of the administration not anticipating, not thinking, not working, not paying attention and I think it is emblematic of a laissez-faire government."
Shelley Aloi, a republican mayoral candidate, said with today's technology, the city's election page was surprisingly lacking. "I will add that this is reflection of the way things have always been," she said.
Aloi, who served as a city alderman from 2009 to 2013, gave an example. During her time in city office, she asked for a report thinking it would take staff about 20 minutes to an hour at most to put together. Not getting a response to her request, she followed up and was told what she asked for would take two staff members a full four weeks at minimum to accomplish because all of those files were still on paper in filing cabinets.
"Folks don't realize the way that government has run and it is time to not do it the same way we have always done it," Aloi said. "It is not a reflection of staff. The staff do the best that they can with what they have. It is time for a new day in city hall."
Michael O'Connor, a democratic mayoral candidate and current alderman, believes the more information given to the voters including on the City webpage and in PSAs the better. "We are all interested in doing what we can to get more folks out to the polls to participate in the process," he said.
"For me, I am a believer that the process of engagement (for) municipal government doesn't start at the ballot box. In many respects, it ends at the ballot box. It has to start sooner than that. You have to give people a reason to see why the municipal election is important," O'Connor said. "Part of that tasks rests on us as candidates. It rests on the way the City outside of an election cycle communicates with the community and engages them to be involved in the process."
