EASTON — During Tuesday’s public meeting, members of the Talbot County Council revisited the ongoing dialogue surrounding the partisan breakdown of election judges in Talbot County for the upcoming election.
Council Member Dave Stepp originally raised concerns at a Sept. 24 council meeting regarding an imbalance of election judges selected by the Talbot County Board of Elections to work polling places this November. At the time, the board’s breakdown of judges was 62 Democratic, 50 Republican and 11 unaffiliated.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Stepp said the difference between Democratic and Republican judges had lowered to seven. “I ask that we keep up that work,” Stepp said.
He also thanked Talbot County Sheriff Joe Gamble for sending a letter to the Board of Elections and Election Director Tammy Stafford last week. In that letter, Gamble “strongly” urged the board to follow state election law.
Council Member Lynn Mielke, as she did on Sept. 24, disagreed with Stepp. She brought up a letter written by Attorney General Anthony Brown that was sent to Gamble on Monday.
In that letter, Brown addressed the “limited role of local law enforcement … in the electoral process.” While not an official opinion of the attorney general, Brown said achieving “exact party balance” isn’t always possible for local election boards due to volunteer rates, training and no-shows on Election Day.
“My Office has consistently advised that opening a polling place, even if the number of judges from each party is not exactly equal, is preferable to closing the polling place and disenfranchising all the voters who would have voted there,” Brown wrote in his letter.
Mielke said Tuesday, “We have rulings from the attorney general that the procedure that was started by (Council Member) Stepp and others, were overruled … And that there was nothing found … that the local board of elections have done wrong.”
ZONING WAIVERCouncil members unanimously approved a zoning change waiver for around 17 acres of land off of U.S. Route 50 that developers aim to use for an affordable multifamily housing project in Easton.
The development on the east side of Ocean Gateway is planned by developers Corrigan & Trippe Ventures. Easton Town Council approved the annexation of the land in July.
The resolution passed Tuesday approves a waiver that will allow a proposed zoning change to take immediate effect without a five-year hold. The area will be rezoned from the county’s town conservation zoning to the town’s residential zoning, providing developers with a higher approved density.
“They would essentially be locked into the uses that are permitted under the county’s TC zoning now for a period of five years,” County Attorney Patrick Thomas said if the waiver was not passed.
Zach Smith, an attorney representing the developers, said the maximum density under the town’s residential zoning is 3.5 units per acre, along with a 5-unit-per-acre mark permitted by the town’s multifamily housing special exception.
If developers plan to exceed those marks, they will have to come before the Easton Town Council for a planned unit development approval. Smith noted developers would then need to revisit the County Council for a supplemental waiver.
Smith emphasized to council members that while developers are obligated within the annexation agreement to reach a 50% mark of affordable units, the goal is for 100% of the units to be affordable.
“This housing is not necessarily housing designed to attract new folks to our community, it’s really to serve folks that are already in our community,” Smith said.
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