Bay Village LWV plans for upcoming election season
Look for the Bay Village non-partisan primary election Voters' Guide in the next edition of the Observer.
The Bay Village chapter of the League of Women Voters - Cuyahoga Area is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of Voters' Guides as they pertain to the fall municipal elections. The first Voters' Guide will present biographical information about the four candidates for mayor of Bay Village. In addition, candidates were asked to respond to a series of questions regarding finances, regionalization, vision and leadership. The questions and their answers will be found in the Voters' Guide. In alphabetical order the four mayoral candidates are: Claire Banasiak, Martin Mace, incumbent Deborah Sutherland and David Volle.
This will be the first mayoral non-partisan primary election in Bay Village since 2007. In July of that year the Bay Village City Council unanimously voted to amend the city charter by establishing a non-partisan primary election to ensure majority vote for all city offices. Previously, any number of candidates could run for office in November, which occasionally resulted in winning an election by fewer than 35 percent of the votes cast.
Bay Village residents overwhelmingly supported the charter amendment by a 64 percent vote. Although the most recent Charter Review Commission considered changing the charter amendment again, they opted to leave it as currently written.
The Bay chapter of the League of Women Voters encourages all residents to consider carefully the information presented in the Voters' Guide and to attend the mayoral Candidates' Night on August 13, at 7 p.m. at Bay Middle School. The non-partisan primary will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will advance to the November general election.
Subsequently, the Bay chapter will prepare a second Voters' Guide for the municipal elections. This will include additional information concerning the mayoral candidates, as well as candidates for Bay City Council and the Bay Board of Education.
The League welcomes the participation of interested citizens in its activities and invites you to attend our next meeting on Saturday, August 3, at 11 a.m. in the Community Room of the Bay Village Police Station. If you can't make it, consider visiting our table at the Bay Cares Volunteer Fair on August 3 from 1-4 p.m. at the Bay Village branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library.
Further information regarding Cuyahoga area activities may be found on our website: www.LWVCuyahogaArea.org. Making democracy work!