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Resolving this issue so that candidates
seeking to run for county commissioner can do so is the highest
priority, Elliott said.
What should come out of this is that
the court should make the map called Option 1, chosen by the
delegation in December, the commissioner district map for the
county, Haines said.
That map was the one the delegation
sent to the General Assembly for approval, but the legislature
adjourned on April 10 without having adopted the map.
The April 19 court order put a
different map, called Option 2, into place. Carroll's Commissioner
Districting Committee recommended that map last summer, but the
delegation rejected it.
Although Option 1 is still the better
map, the important thing is that this fall's commissioner elections
are held by district, rather than at large, Shewell said.
"I think that it definitely has to be
by district because that's what the people voted [for]," she said.
Before the circuit court issued its
order, the Carroll County Board of Elections had announced that this
fall's elections for county commissioners would be held at large,
rather than by district.
Sen. David Brinkley, R-District 4, said
he didn't have a position on the court cases, he was just
disappointed that the legislature didn't finish its work on the bill
that would have created commissioner districts.
Sen. Allan Kittleman, R-District 9,
refused to comment for this article.
The story so far
November 2004: Voters decided to
switch from three county commissioners elected at-large to five
commissioners elected by district.
January 2005: The Carroll County
Board of Commissioners appointed a seven-member Districting
Committee and charged the group with drawing boundaries for five
commissioner districts. The committee included three Republicans,
three Democrats and the head of the county's Board of Elections.
June 2005: The Districting
Committee held its final public hearing on the map alternatives.
About a dozen people attended. Later in the month, the committee
selected the Option 2 map by a 4-2 vote.
December 2005: Carroll's
Delegation to Annapolis, with no discussion, dismissed the
committee's recommendation and voted instead for the Option 1 map.
April 10: Maryland's General
Assembly adjourned without passing HB 491, which would have codified
Option 1.
April 17: Carroll County's Board
of Elections announced that the county's commissioners will be
elected at-large, rather than by district.
April 19: Facing a lawsuit from
Sykesville resident Dana Dembrow, the Board of Elections agreed to,
and Carroll County Circuit Court Judge Michael M. Galloway signed, a
consent order establishing Option 2 as the county's commissioner
district map.
Tuesday: James Harris, of
Westminster, and Joseph Getty, a former member of the Carroll County
Commissioner Districting Committee, intervened in the court case for
purposes of appealing Galloway's order.
Option 1
* A northern district comprised of
Taneytown and Manchester.
* A southwestern district containing
New Windsor, Union Bridge and Mount Airy.
* A southeastern district containing
Sykesville and Eldersburg.
* An eastern district containing
Hampstead and Finksburg.
* A central district for Westminster.
Option 2
* Taneytown, New Windsor and Union
Bridge into a district.
* Hampstead, Manchester and Finksburg
north of MD 140 into a district.
* Eldersburg and Finksburg south of Md.
140 into a district.
* Sykesville and Mount Airy into a
district.
* Westminster into its own district.
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