Politics & Government

Where In the World Is...

...the Gaithersburg Board of Supervisors of Elections?

Gaithersburg's election board—the same one that last year thought it would be a good idea to ignore the United States Supreme Court—will be in the City of Frederick this afternoon.

Why?

Frederick is setting up their own Board of Supervisors of Elections, according to Gaithersburg City Attorney Lynn Board, and they want some advice.

Find out what's happening in Gaithersburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the City of Frederick website, their Board of Supervisors of Elections held their first official meeting on Nov. 30, 2011, and have met just two other times since then. This afternoon's meeting will be their fourth.

On today's agenda: "Discussion of Election Processes and Procedures in Preparation for The City of Frederick 2013 Elections."

Find out what's happening in Gaithersburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The two cities are similar in some ways. Populations are nearly the same (65,000 in Frederick and 60,000 in Gaithersburg), and they are both home to a large federal installation (NIST in Gaithersburg and Ft. Deatrick in Frederick).

But there are plenty of differences, as well. Frederick is more than twice the physical size of Gaithersburg, and their annual budget is also about twice as big.

Frederick also has twice as many voting precincts and in 2009 had more than 7,282 voters cast ballots for City Council, compared to 3,631 in 2009 in Gaithersburg.

In 2009, nearly 24 percent of registered voters came out to vote in Frederick. In Gaithersburg's latest election, 9.3 percent of voters turned up at the polls.

What advice should the Gaithersburg BOSE give to Frederick?


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