Candidates Weigh In on Rockville Election Referendums

Rockville voters will have four referendum questions to answer on the Nov. 7 ballot. The outcome of the election will advise the next mayor and council in future legislation.

Question 1 – Voting Age

Voters will vote on whether to lower the voting age to 16 in city elections. The current voting age is 18.

Question 2 – Non-Citizen Voting

The next ballot question asks voters if the right to vote in city elections should be extended to non-citizens.

Question 3 – Term Limits

The Rockville mayor and city council members have no term limits, one ballot referendum could change that. The question asks voters if the mayor and council should be limited to three consecutive terms of four years.

Question 4 – Representative Districts

Rockville’s six council members are elected at-large by the whole city. A ballot question asks if some council members should instead be elected by representative districts.

If enacted, this would break up the city into districts. Each district would get a representative.

What are the council member candidates’ opinions?

Because referendum questions are non-binding, the next mayor and council will have the final say on the measures.

Below is how each candidate for council would vote on each referendum, according to an Oct. 5 election forum. Blank spaces indicate the candidate didn’t publicly display their vote. Two candidates, Harold Hodges and Paul Scott, were not present at the Oct. 5 election forum.

Candidate’s Responses to Ballot Questions