The Columbus City Council will wait until its next meeting to finish appointing members to the Municipal Election Commission.
Councilmen began reappointing members to the five-person board at Tuesday’s meeting, but stopped when Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens raised concerns that the city’s wards weren’t evenly represented.
“We’re going to possibly have three people from one ward — Ward 1,” Mickens said.
The council had already appointed three commissioners when Mickens raised his objection.
City Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong said the election commissioners are not required to have even ward representation. He said the commission is like many other city boards, where ward representation isn’t necessarily a factor in member selection.
“It doesn’t spell that out — it falls the way it falls,” Armstrong said. “There’s no breakdown in wards.”
Councilmen voted to reappoint Diane Sloan, Roy Milton Hicks and Penesha McDowell Harrison before tabling the remaining two commissioner appointments.
Sloan and Harrison are from Ward 1, while Hicks is from Ward 4. The council voted 5-0 on Hicks’ reappointment and 4-1 for Sloan and Harrison, with Box opposing both.
Three applicants remain for the final two positions. Josie Shumake, of Ward 5, is seeking reappointment. Tommy Jackson, of Ward 1, and Willie Harris, of Ward 6, are seeking first-time appointment to the commission.
“In previous years, we have done that, where each ward tried to at least put one person on the commission,” Mickens said. “I think that would be only fair that one person would come from each ward. You’ve got Ward 6 here not even represented. You’ve got Ward 3 not even represented. You’ve got Ward 2 not even represented. I think we need to be represented on the election commission.”
The city has five election commissioners and six wards, so it is impossible for every ward to be represented on the commission.
The board voted 4-1 to table the remaining appointments until its next meeting on July 6.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voted against the motion. Jones said he felt there had already been plenty of time for applicants for Ward 2 to apply for the election commission.
“I felt like if he wanted somebody from his ward or if someone wanted to apply, it’s been on the books already and they had time to apply,” Jones said. “If he wanted someone from his ward, they should have already applied. If no one applied, obviously no one wanted it.
“I’m not opposed to someone from his ward getting it, I just feel that if they wanted to apply, they would have,” Jones added. “I didn’t have anyone from Ward 5 either, but if someone wanted to apply they were more than welcome to apply.”
Armstrong said the city will likely continue to accept commission applications since the council tabled the appointments.
Election commissioners are responsible for overseeing municipal general, primary and special elections. Their duties also include hiring poll workers, qualifying candidates and being present to hear election challenges.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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