The 10 Village Boards in Columbia have independently taken steps to proceed with filling the seats on their village board and the their representative to the CA Board of Directors during these times of adaptation. The villages of Oakland Mills, Harper's Choice, and Long Reach are currently in process of conducting either a mail-in only or online only election to select new members of their village board and/or representative to the Columbia Association Board of Directors. Each of these three villages has established their own unique election process which are detailed on their village board website, linked below, with a ballot deadline of either April 23 or 24. Other villages in Columbia either have a uncontested election that does not require voting (and thus, eliminates the need to figure out how to conduct a small neighborhood election) or have decided to postpone their election until late June.
Without the ability to conduct in-person campaigning, some candidates in contested races have taken to social media to campaign. In Harper's Choice, CA representative candidate Ashley Vaughan has set up a campaign page on Facebook where she is actively posting community news and keeping neighbors informed about ways to stay engaged in neighborhood. Likewise, Lena Kennedy in Oakland Mills is also regularly posting to to her Facebook campaign page as runs for the Oakland Mills CA representative position.
The volunteer members of the Village Boards of Directors and Columbia Association representatives work to make Columbia a better place to live and have an important influence on development, quality of life, and community events, so even in these difficult times; I encourage all eligible voters (those who own or rent property in a Columbia village) in these villages to VOTE! Each village establishes their own governance process so the size of each Village Board, term lengths (either one or two years), and voting processes vary for each village; as does the number of positions are up for election. Accordingly, each village needed to separately determine how to proceed with elections for new board members given the inability to conduct in-person voting.
Below is a village by village breakdown of each election, the candidates, and links to various village websites that contain information on the voting process and the candidate statements.
Villages with Contested Elections
Harper's Choice - Election Required
Election Information and Candidate Statements: http://harperschoice.org/2020-harpers-choice-elections/; Must complete online proxy ballot by April 24
Village Board Candidates (3 candidates for 2 open seats): Bryan Conover, Eileen Brewer, and Rebecca Beall.
Columbia Association Board of Directors Representative (3 candidates for 1 seat): Ashley Vaughan (Facebook), Debra Warner, and Alan Klein.
Oakland Mills - Election Required
Election Information: http://oaklandmills.org/the-board/board-election-information/; Mail-in ballot must be postmarked on or before April 23
Candidate Statements: http://oaklandmills.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020-Candidate-Statements-for-Web-FINAL-with-correction.pdf
Village Board Candidates (8 candidates for 7 open seats): Bill McCormack Jr, Paul Verchinski, Rebecca Bryant, Larry Pretlow, Jonathan Edelson, Bageshwar Verma, Ian Kennedy, and Lynn-Steven Engelke.
Columbia Association Board of Directors Representative (2 candidates for 1 seat): Lena Kennedy (Facebook) and Virginia (Ginny) Thomas
Long Reach - Election Required
Election Information and Candidate Statements: https://longreach.org/election-rules-information/. Mail-in ballot must be received by April 24.
Village Board Board-Members Elect (4 candidates for 3 open seats): David Wissing, Josh Friedman, David Bechtel, Edward Coleman
Columbia Association Board of Directors Representative : No election this year.
Villages with Uncontested Elections
These villages have fewer candidates than the number of open positions and thus, eligible candidates are deemed elected and no election is necessary.
Hickory Ridge - No Election Required
Village Board Board-Members Elect (3 candidates for 5 open seats): Skye Anderson, Fred Johnston, and Jeremy Dommu (me!!).
Columbia Association Representative Elect (1 candidate for 1 seat): Jessamine Duvall
Wilde Lake - No Election Required
Village Board Board-Members Elect (2 candidates for 5 open seats): Kevin McAliley and Laura Torres
Columbia Association Representative Elect (1 candidate for 1 seat): Nancy McCord
Owen Brown - No Election Required
Website: https://owenbrownvillage.org/
Village Board Board-Members Elect (2 candidates): Michael Golibersuch and Vince Miller
Columbia Association Representative Elect(1 candidate for 1 seat): Andy Stack
Town Center - No Election Required
Village Board Members Elect (2 candidates): Kevin Fitzgerald, Jamie Hibbard
Columbia Association Representative Elect: Lin Eagan
Villages with Postponed Elections
River Hill - Election Postponed
Website: https://www.villageofriverhill.org/board/board-of-directors/; https://www.villageofriverhill.org/villager/aprilmay-2020-villager/
Election: Election has been postponed until June 27
King's Contrivance - Election Postponed
Election: Election has been postponed until June 27
Villages - TBD
I could not find info for the election at Dorsey's Seach on their village websites, but will update this post if I learn more.
Dorsey's Search - TBD
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