City Election Likely Jan. 16
Thanks to technicalities in city election regulations it appears the special election to fill two vacancies on the College Park City Council will be held January 16, a few days before spring semester classes begin. The city charter requires the special election be held within 45 days of any vacancy, and Councilmembers Eric Olson and Joseline Peña-Melnyk have announced they intend to resign their seats at the December 4th meeting.
Thus far three people have indicated they are interested in running for the seats. In District 3, Old Town Civic Association President Stephanie Stullich and Rethink College Park Editor David Daddio told the Diamondback they intended to run for Olson’s seat. If he officially files to run Daddio will take a leave of absence from this website, and we intend to cover all candidates equally. In District 4, student Nick Aragòn intends to run. Aragòn was formerly involved in the SGA, a former Student President of the University System of Maryland, and has been involved in efforts to lobby to control tuition costs.
Students interested in voting who will be absent for the election can vote by absentee ballot. For more election information contact the office of the City Clerk at 301-864-8666.
> Gazette: “City considers delaying election for UMD voters”
> Diamondback: “City likely to rely on absentee ballots for election”
> Diamondback: “Students Intend to Run for City Council”
In other news, we hope all our readers have a safe an enjoyable Thanksgiving break. If you are staying in the area please remember Shuttle-UM will have no service on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week.
UPDATE
Anyone who will be “unavoidably absent” from College Park on election day (January 16th) can requests an ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION. Each voter must submit this application by January 7th in order to participate in the special election.
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