By Stella Canino and Katherine Schutzman
College Park residents headed to the polls Tuesday to vote for a new District 3 city council member in a special election.
Three candidates are vying for the seat, which former council member Stuart Adams left vacant after he resigned in January. The district includes the Calvert Hills and Old Town neighborhoods.
The three candidates — Michael Meadow, a mechanical engineer at the Architect of the Capitol; Ray Ranker, a chaplain at this university; and junior government and politics major Gannon Sprinkle — greeted voters at College Park City Hall.
“It’s that last little push that you might be able to sway [voters’] mind or their heart about one of the issues that you care about,” Meadow said. “It’s just part of the democratic process of meeting the candidate and being a good representative.”
College Park resident Genevieve Conway voted for Ray Ranker because of his connections and outreach to the city’s community. Engagement in environmentally-friendly city services and community initiatives is also important to her in local elections, according to Conway, who is a living-learning and academic support initiatives assistant director for Resident Life.
Ranker is one of Conway’s neighbors, she said, and she feels that his openness and approachability makes him a strong candidate.
“I feel like I could easily access the person I voted for,” Conway said. “That was really important to me … feeling like I had a community voice who was living where I was living, and having similar experiences to what I was experiencing.”
[Meet the candidates for the District 3 College Park City Council seat]
Senior government and politics major Thomas Prestwich was deciding between Ranker and Sprinkle when he walked into City Hall to cast his vote. Prestwich wanted to elect a candidate who would directly connect with this university, he said.
Prestwich ultimately voted for Ranker because he believes Ranker’s community experience will let him make more informed decisions. But Prestwich noted that all the candidates were aligned on issues including property taxes, small business retention and climate resilience.
Junior government and politics major Yonah Gross changed his voter registration location for this election to cast his vote for Sprinkle, he said. Sprinkle previously served as the city council’s deputy student liaison last academic year.
“I also know him politically and what he stands for,” Gross said. “I wouldn’t have changed my voter registration if there wasn’t a student running in this race.”
Senior economics and history major Maya Flaherty voted for Sprinkle because she hopes he will improve communication between this university and the city council by giving students a more active voice. Supporting small businesses and building the local community are also important to her, she said.
Sprinkle’s infrastructure and public transportation knowledge and student perspective makes his platform unique, Flaherty added.
“There’s definitely a lot of work to be done and a lot of collaboration that could be happening between our city council and the students,” Flaherty said.
[District 3 College Park City Council candidates discuss public safety, business retention]
Senior psychology major Isabelle Darley Opata said seeing another student run for city council motivated her to go vote. But Opata’s intuition told her to vote for Meadow, who she thought had strong policy on sustainable planning and community safety.
Pamela Lever, a Montgomery County Public Schools guidance counselor, voted Tuesday due to the lack of representation she feels in her community, specifically in the civics association.
She cast her ballot for Meadow and hopes to see a sound barrier installed in her neighborhood to reduce constant motorcycle noise and cameras on Edmonston Road.
Stephen Thomas, a public health professor at this university, voted for Ranker because of his connections and presence in the neighborhood.
Thomas added the Purple Line construction is important for the economic development of the city, but the disruption it causes to residents must be addressed.
“The most important issue to me right now, at this moment, is the quality of life,” Thomas said. “How we treat one another with dignity and respect and to get more of that.”
