Election dates for the Carroll County commissioners? race are not expectedto be pushed back despite legal actions on the delineation of voting districts.
“I?ll do my best so that the elections will go on time,” said Richard Murray, attorney for the Carroll County Board of Elections. “The courts have always been very accommodating [in election matters].”
The primary elections are Sept. 4; the general elections are Nov. 7.
Murray said he expects to respond to the two appeals formally on behalf of the board as early as today and as late as Monday.
Carroll Circuit Court Judge Michael Galloway granted two appeals Tuesday: One by Joseph Getty, policy director for Gov. Robert Ehrlich and former member of the county redistricting committee, and James Harris, a Westminster native who ran for commissioner several years ago, said Deputy Election Director Gail Carter.
Harris, a retired landscape contractor, said he filed the appeal because “the citizens of Carroll County have the right to fair and honest elections, and it?s up to the citizens to decide as to what their government should be.”
He was referring to the voting district map that the Carroll delegation supported ? not the map drawn by the redistricting committee, which Galloway ruled in favor of and the county Board of Elections, county commissioners and all of Carroll?s municipal governments endorsed.
“I think we need stability, and one way to get stability is to have five districts,” Harris said. “The best government is closest to the people and it?s hard to represent a county so distinct and large.”
Getty could not be reached for comment.
Carter said only incumbent Commissioner Perry Jones, Eric Bouchat of Woodbine and Charles William Cull of Westminster have filed to run for commissioner, but at least four more people have picked up the necessary forms, and an untold number have downloaded their electronic counterparts from the board?s Web site.
“I wish [this district map debate was] over, but it makes life interesting,” Carter said. “It?s just part of the process.”
