Tuesday, December 19th
The City of Bowie will hold a special recall election on December 19 for voters of District 2 to determine if Councilmember Diane Polangin should be recalled from office.
City Clerk Awilda Hernandez announced the election today after the City Board of Elections certified that a recall petition presented to the City contained signatures of more than the required 25% of registered voters in District 2.
A recall petition containing 3,032 signatures was presented to the City Clerk on November 6, 2017. Over the last several days, the Board of Elections reviewed all of the signatures against voter rolls, and after disqualifying 44 names, certified that the petition contained more than the 2,659 requisite signatures for a special recall election.
The ballot will contain a single “yes or no” question: “Do you vote to recall from her City elective office District 2 Councilmember Diane Polangin?”
According to provisions in the City Charter, recalling and replacing a recalled Councilmember is a multi-step process. The first step is to gather signatures of at least 25% of the eligible registered voters on a recall petition. If the requisite number of signatures is obtained and certified by the Board of Elections, a special recall election shall take place. If a majority of the voters vote yes on the recall question, the official is removed from office and another special election is held within 60-90 days to fill the vacant position.
The special recall election will take place on December 19, 2017. This will allow time to advertise the election and take care of all the logistics associated with running an election, such as securing polling places and voting machines, and lining up election judges. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters may also cast their vote by absentee ballot if they cannot vote in person on December 19th .
Only registered voters of District 2 (A & B) are eligible to vote in this election. District 2A consists of the following neighborhoods: Belair Town, Bowie Forest, Fairview, Glenridge, Grady’s Walk, Highbridge Park, Meadowbrook (only the streets south and west of Millstream Drive), Somerset, Stewart’s Landing, and Tulip Grove. District 2B neighborhoods include Buckingham, Derbyshire, Forest Hills, Foxhill, Longridge, and Kenilworth. District 2A voters will vote at Community Christian Presbyterian Church on Belair Drive and District 2B voters will vote at the Kenhill Center on Kenhill Drive.