MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL AT-LARGE DEBATE (VIDEO) + HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE

Montgomery Community Media and the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County hosted a Montgomery County Council At-Large Candidate Forum last night. You can watch the debate in its entirety here. Candidates from the Democratic, Green and Republican parties participated in the forum, which included transportation, Bus Rapid Transit, the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle, and affordable housing among its topics.

Today is the deadline to register to vote in the November 4 election. You can register today online or go to the Board of Elections office in person at 18753 North Frederick Avenue, Suite 210, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. If you have questions, call 240-777-8500.

Early voting will be available for all registered voters between October 23 and October 30 at these early voting sites around the county.

FORMER COUNCILMEMBER: ROCKVILLE VOTER PARTICIPATION ISN'T AS LOW AS YOU THINK

Less than 17% of Rockville voters bothered to vote in last November's city elections. That has been accepted as fact for the past two Rockville elections.

Not so fast, warned former Rockville councilman Jim Marrinan at Monday's Mayor and Council meeting.

"Flat out, the actual percentage of Rockville residents voting in the last election was higher than the reported" number, Marrinan said during the Community Forum portion of the meeting. The problem, Marrinan said, is that too many ineligible voters remain on the Rockville voting rolls. 

Marrinan gave a personal example - his own adult daughters are still on the eligible voter list in Rockville, despite not being residents. Brigitta Mullican, a former candidate for mayor and council, previously commented on Rockville Patch that she encountered a number of inaccuracies in the current voter rolls, while campaigning door to door in the city. 

The discrepancies may be making Rockville voters sound more like slouches than they actually are, when it comes to exercising their right to vote. Marrinan still believes the actual number could use a boost. He suggested adding early voting for city elections. Marrinan's proposal to lower the cost of such voting, would be to have it on the Saturday prior to election day, from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

In the meantime, Rockville, don't feel so bad about your voting record.  The "number of ineligible voters on our eligible voter list is quite high,” Marrinan said.

Responding to Marrinan's advice to clean up the voter list and add early voting, Mayor Bridget Newton said, "I actually agree with you on both points." Newton added that her non-resident son remains on the eligible voter list, as well.

FORMER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ENDORSES NEWTON, HADLEY, WHITAKER IN ROCKVILLE ELECTION

Former Montgomery County School Board member Laura Berthiaume has released a letter strongly endorsing Bridget Newton for mayor, and Don Hadley and Claire Marcuccio Whitaker for city council, in today's Rockville election.

Berthiaume also provides a detailed analysis she says proves that keeping the city's strong Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) in place - as the three candidates she endorsed have promised to do - will not prevent schools from being built in the future.

Recent attempts to weaken the APFO have been presented to suggest the ordinance was responsible for Montgomery County Public Schools not adding school facilities in Rockville. Berthiaume's provided evidence demonstrates that the APFO was not to blame in any of those instances. Rather, other issues at the county level interfered, Berthiaume writes.

Instead, Berthiaume argues strongly for keeping the APFO guidelines in place to prevent even more overcrowding in Rockville public schools. She says that Rockville Pike development will add
4-6000 new units alone. By 2016, Julius West Middle School will have more students than many small colleges, she notes.

"Do you want to see our sole middle school handling 1,800 or more students by 2020?," Berthiaume asks fellow voters in her letter.  "Please ask yourselves that question as you go in to vote [today]."

"It seems to me that one set of candidates [Team Rockville slate] favors essentially unlimited residential construction along 355, no matter the impact on our schools, while three excellent candidates will protect our Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) standards," she writes.

Her letter concludes:

"If you care about our children --or if you are just the sort of person who doesn't want to live in Crystal City - and never did - I ask you to please go out [today] and vote for Bridget Newton for Mayor, and Don Hadley and Claire Whitaker for Council."

Whitaker has also been endorsed by Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich, Senator Jennie Forehand, and Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz.