[RP TownTalk] EXT : Proposed "Voter Expansion" legislation

Sun Mar 11 01:46:02 UTC 2018

Sarah
One challenge I see is the immigrant residents are not trusting of the white residents.  I saw this 10 yrs ago when I first started teaching.  Then in these recent days' exchange, there were a few strong outbursts of anti- immigrant whites accusing the immigrants of all kinds of abuse and many/most of the accusations were not true.  So there needs to be some kind of communication in our town to separate fact from fiction which is what Dwight was trying to do.  There is so much confusion of what is fact or fiction that the immigrants are afraid to trust-- which is a horrible way to live and allows the lies to flourish and hatred to grow. Del and I would love to see baby steps taken to try to bring this towns 2 sides together and be real neighbors and friends.

People come to this country for many different reasons.  It would be nice if we made a list of all the reasons why people come or flee (sp) here & wind up in RP so there is groundwork laid to understand the immigrant's plight/story and reach out to maybe just be there & listen at first.  Maybe investigate how the DACA children are doing and listen to our own town's DACA kids to see how they feel.  How is their school work? Do they need help?  Kids want to be part of solutions-- not have a reputation of being the problem.

I remember few years back when Ray R.  and I worked/talked together and had some interested youth come to Town Hall  meetings to learn how things work and at the end got to ask questions and feel a part.  It was suppose to be once a year but some wanted to do it a little bit more.  They were enthused/excited - and the program dropped dead - sending what message??? to our youth??? 

In a message dated 3/10/2018 7:55:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, sarah.wayland at gmail.com writes:

First of all, I hope we can keep in mind that the legislation is currently in the "draft" stage. 

I'm thinking that perhaps our discussion should focus on our goals and how to accomplish those goals. I'm viewing the draft legislation (which hasn't even gone to the council for consideration yet because it's still being actively revised) as one possible way to address the goal of increasing civic engagement by all of our residents. There are additional ways to accomplish this goal. Let's think about them! 

Liz asks some important questions. 

>> 1. What is the genesis of this legislation? <<

also

>> 2.  Assuming here... If the goal is to increase engagement and input into the town by all residents, there are existing ways that can already happen. All residents are welcome at committee meetings, council meetings, etc. We struggle to get US citizen residents to participate!  <<

It's my understanding that one reason for the legislation is that municipal ward boundaries are created based on Census data, and in particular on the basis of population. Wards are based on the population of registered voters - just the "raw" population numbers. This has led to wards (5 and 6, in particular) that have many many residents most of whom are not eligible to vote, much less run for council. 

To whit, in 2013, 7 people voted in Ward 5, and 3 voted in Ward 6. In 2015, 2 people voted in Ward 5, and 1 voted in Ward 6. In 2017, 5 voted in Ward 5, and 6 voted in Ward 6. 

By contrast, the number of voters in Ward 1 has been as low as 32 in 2015 to a high of 100 in 2017. 

My question is, how can we increase civic engagement for the residents of low voter turnout areas like Wards 5 and 6? Who will represent their interests? I do think the current council members representing those wards, Colleen Richardson and Jose Silva, do a wonderful job, and I'm grateful to them for their hard work and dedication to serving their residents. 

My goal is to increase civic engagement for all residents of our town, whether they are immigrants or not. We all live here together and we are all part of this community. How can we accomplish that? How can we be friendly and supportive of our neighbors and friends?  There are lots of ways to do that. Let's brainstorm! 

>> Is RP only considering because other municipalities have passed similar legislation? <<

I can't answer this question, but I know that the issue I mentioned above is something I've worried about for many years now. 

>>If so, what is the success rate in those towns? Did it increase civic engagement or voter turn out?  Perhaps we wait a bit to see if the other towns have met their goals, and if not, maybe the legislation should be edited accordingly before being passed in RP. <<

This is an interesting and sensible approach to my view. Other municipalities (Takoma Park) have had the revised laws in place for 

>> 3. What is the anticipated increase in workload for the record keeping required? <<

A very reasonable question that I'd love to know the answer to. 

>> 4.  How will it be proven that a voter is not already registered elsewhere? <<

This is, unfortunately, a problem for US Citizens as well. You are asked to provide your previous address at the bottom of the application. The assumption is that Prince George's County will notify the previous district that you should be removed from the voter roles. That doesn't happen very often, and as a result there are many more voters registered in a given district than actually reside there. This is a national problem that desperately needs fixing. 

Determining whether a person who wants to register to vote actually lives in town is a very real concern. It seems to me that the town would be wise to require documentation that you actually live in Riverdale Park. Something like what the schools do when students want to register - a valid rental or lease agreement, or a utility bill in your name. 

How would people feel about allowing immigrants who are here legally (e.g., have a Green Card) to vote? 

-Sarah

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