New to the city, this primary will be the first time David Warnock has voted for Mayor.
The question is, “Have the leading candidates for Mayor been good citizens when it comes to voting?”
Take a look at the table below. You’ll have to click on the link to see it. Blow it up if the type is too small for you.
Candidate Voting Histories Table
Across the top of the table you’ll see the names of the 6 leading candidates for Mayor in the order, left to right, of their ranking in the most recent Sun poll. Information below their names, but above the table will show you when they registered as Democrats in Maryland, how old they were at the time and the number of votes they’ve cast out of the 23 primary and general elections that have been held in Baltimore since the primary of 1999 when Martin O’Malley was first elected Mayor.
Down the left side, you’ll see the date and type of every city, gubernatorial and Presidential primary and general election over the past 17 years. If the candidate voted, the cell for that election and candidate will have the word “VOTED” in it. Green cells are those when the candidate could have voted, but didn’t for whatever reason – assuming data provided by the Maryland State Board of Elections are accurate.
So what does the table tell you? Well, for one thing, Catherine Pugh and Carl Stokes have perfect voting records. Sheila Dixon and Elizabeth Embry are tied for second place having voted 87% of the time. Nick Mosby comes in third with 83%.
David Warnock has the worst voter record, having participated in only 9 of the 16 elections (56%) in which he could have voted. As you can see, Mr. Warnock has never voted in a Baltimore City election, having only recently moved to the city from Baltimore County. Of the 9 elections in which he did vote, only 2 were primaries.
According to his first television commercial, “Thirty-three years ago, I drove into Baltimore…” Depending upon the precise date, that would have been 1983 when Mr. Warnock first moved to Maryland. He’s was born in 1958, so he would have been 25 at the time. He was old enough to vote, but didn’t register in Maryland, at least not as a Democrat according to the Board of Elections, until 1994, 11 years later.
Four years ago – when the Democratic Presidential primary was uncontested and before the election of the Mayor and City Council was part of the Presidential cycle – less than 15% of Baltimore City Democrats showed up to vote. Let’s hope the voters take their right to vote more seriously this time and exercise their power to elect a new Mayor. It’s a plurality vote, meaning that, rough guess, as little as 30% of the vote could put a candidate for Mayor in City Hall. Thirty percent of 15% turnout would mean that only 4.5% of registered Democratic voters were allowed to pick the Mayor of 100% of the people. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is ridiculous.
If you want good government, you need to vote for it.
