Voters Seem To Favor Expanding Council, Retaining At-Large Seats

Rockville MD

04 November, 2020

4:12 PM

Description

ROCKVILLE, MD — A majority of Montgomery County voters are seemingly for a ballot question that expands the County Council from nine to 11 seats, early results show. The council-backed measure (Question C) changes the makeup of the council by increasing the number of council districts from five to seven. No changes would be made to the four at-large seats. According to unofficial vote totals, 178,370 residents (62.4 percent) voted in favor of expanding the council, while 107,367 voted against it (37.6 percent). The competing proposal, Question D, gets rid of the four at-large seats and breaks the council into nine districts. As of 1:38 p.m., 117,733 voters were in favor of the proposal (41.6 percent) and 165,589 voters were against it (58.4 percent). Question A, which is backed by the County Council, gets rid of a cap on property tax revenue increases, and instead requires that any increase above the rate of inflation be unanimously approved by the County Council. The proposal has 178,370 votes in favor (62.4 percent) and 107,367 in opposition (37.6 percent), early results show. Question B was spearheaded by former county executive candidate Robin Ficker. This proposal would limit property tax revenue increases at the rate of inflation. According to unofficial vote totals, 118,285 residents (41.6 percent) voted in favor of the proposal, while 165,886 voted against it (58.4 percent).