Election 2012 Brings More Questions Than Answers

I’m usually pretty sure of myself when it comes time to cast my ballot. I’ve always been one of those folks who family members and friends call the night before the election to find out who and what to vote for.

But in an election season in Montgomery County that may be best characterized as a “referenda bonanza,” this year I find myself, appropriately, with more questions… than answers.

Questions like:

• Considering that Early Voting means some folks will be casting their ballots on Halloween, is it fair to pre-mark sample ballots with the words “Trick” or “Treat” as a reminder of which way to vote?
• Given the strong possibility of voter fatigue on a ballot that will include seven weighty state questions, a proposed county charter amendment and a referendum on a part of the county’s collective bargaining law, will voters be permitted to take a cup of coffee or a 5-hour Energy drink into the voter booth?
• Why is it that nearly half of the voters who are likely to show up at the polls to vote for president on Election Day 2012 will be missing in action two years from now when they will have an opportunity to really impact their daily life by helping to hire a governor, a congressman, a state attorney general, a state tax collector, a county executive, the entire nine-member county council, a sheriff and a full county courthouse slate, school board members, and all of their state legislators, just to name a few of the choices in 2014?
• With so many MoCo political insiders likely to be working the polls in the battleground states of Virginia or Pennsylvania once again this Election Day, who will be staying back home to campaign at the local precincts?
• What exactly is the deal with these Orphans Court judges such that we need not one, but two ballot questions to straighten out the job requirements, with regard to legal credentials?
• How is it that I haven’t moved in 16 years but will be voting in my third new congressional district and both of my previous U.S. representatives are still incumbents, but not mine?
• Why is it that I live in one particular district in a Board of Education election, but can still vote for a candidate from each district on the ballot? By the way, since this is the case… why can’t I just cast a vote for my old, now redistricted congressman or congresswoman? (Never mind – don’t answer that!)
• What… no Ficker amendment this year? (Now I’m really lost!)

About Steve Simon

Steve Simon is vice president of Van Eperen & Company, a Rockville-based strategic communications and public relations firm. A longtime Montgomery County political observer, he has been in the media and public relations field locally for nearly 30 years. In addition to serving as an independent public relations consultant, he has held previous posts as the public information director for Montgomery County Public Schools, as director of communications for Montgomery College, and as a public information officer for Montgomery County, under three different county executive’s administrations. Earlier in his career, he was managing editor of The Chronicle Express newspapers, a former community newspaper chain in Montgomery County. He is the former host of several Montgomery County cable television shows, including Capital View Annapolis for County Cable Montgomery and Campus Conversations for Montgomery College Television.

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