Open house for contentious College Park election draws little interest

Candidates running for office in College Park gather for an “Open House” event held in the College Park Town Hall on Monday, October 5, 2015.

The upcoming College Park elections might be the most competitive in decades, but only six College Park residents showed up for a candidate open house Monday night. 

The College Park Democrats Club sponsored the event, which took place at City Hall between 7 and 9 p.m. 

Candidates running for every City Council district and both mayoral candidates attended the open house.

“This is the first large event like this,” incumbent District 2 Councilman Monroe Dennis said. “This is also the first time we’ve had this many candidates vying for a council position, and also the first time in many years we’ve had a challenge for the mayoral position, so there’s lots of new faces.”

However, fewer than 10 residents — all of whom live in District 1 — trickled through the door over the course of the night. 

“I was hoping and expecting to see more residents,” incumbent District 4 Councilman Alan Hew said. 

Candidates spent the majority of the time chatting with one another.

“I was prepping — I was like, ‘I need to get my elevator speech down, because it’s going to be like next person, next person, next person,’” District 3 candidate Ryan Belcher said. “But I got to know the other candidates well.”

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The purpose of the evening was to integrate campaigning events usually separated by district and position, said Cory Sanders, District 1 candidate and the event’s organizer.

“Different districts have different debates that sometimes turn negative,” Sanders said. “We wanted to have an open house where everyone can come, where there’s no this, that or the other, no negative intentions.”

Sanders promoted the event through phone calls, emails and Facebook, he said.

“I was expecting more people to show up,” District 4 Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Denise Mitchell said. “I thought people would be really more actively engaged and see where the candidates were for all four districts, especially since I was really glad Sanders put this together, because it shows getting residents engaged is going to be the key for this election.”

The low turnout could have been a result of timing, as “it is a Monday, and Monday’s usually a bad day,” Mitchell said.

It could also have been due to a failure to get the word out, others said.

“I got an invite on Facebook earlier today,” resident Matt Dernoga said. “I’m a little surprised there are so few residents here, but I’m not sure how it was advertised since I found out the day of.”

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The anemic attendance is proof that candidates must stay focused on communicating effectively with their constituents, Belcher said. 

“It’s a matter of making sure people plan to be involved,” Belcher said. “We need to get out stuff earlier, talk to people more and have a better social media presence so we’re not just doing stuff last minute, so we can have people talk to us.”

Though the low turnout is disappointing, it could indicate the public’s disinterest in city elections in general, incumbent District 1 Councilman Fazlul Kabir said.

“It’s a kind of sad state of affairs,” Kabir said. “Even in general, there’s less and less interest in city elections. I don’t want to say that it’s going down, the interest in city elections, but in general, it’s low.”

Last year, the voter turnout in District 1 was 16 percent, Kabir said.

Despite this, College Park should expect its largest voter turnout in decades come November, Dennis said. 

“Election day will be a bigger turnout than tonight and than last election,” Dennis said. “It’s been predicted that we will set record numbers for turnout because of more people running and because there are lots of issues people want to see addressed.”

High-interest issues, such as plans for the new City Hall and construction of The Hotel at the University of Maryland, combined with the higher number of candidates will play a role in getting people to the polls, Dennis said.

In fact, a greater variety among candidates was what drew resident Harriet McNamee to attend the open house.

“I already know who I’m voting for, but I just wanted to come and show my support because I think that College Park needs more women in City Council, and so that’s my main interest this election,” McNamee said. “It’s been too much of an old boys’ club for years and years and years.”

Resident Sean Virgile said he hopes more residents will show up to future events, which will take place over the course of the next month leading up to the election.

“I’m new to local politics, so I’m doing my best to learn about the candidates,” Virgile said. “I think other residents should be taking greater interest.”

Other events this week include a District 1 candidate debate Oct. 8 at Davis Hall at 7:30 p.m. and a mayoral debate Oct. 10 at the Branchville Fire Department at 3 p.m.