04 November 2008
Voter Participation Heavy in Liberal Washington Suburb
Turnout impressive, even by activist standards, in Takoma Park, Maryland
Washington — Between the time the polls open and the time when all votes have been counted, Election Day news reports focus on voter turnout and whether the length of lines at polling places accurately demonstrates voter interest.
By most accounts, voter participation in the November 4 U.S. elections is on track to be the highest in recent memory. The Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland, is reflecting this trend.
During an 11 a.m. visit by America.gov, poll workers reported that between the 7 a.m. opening and 10 a.m., a total of 693 residents had cast their votes. Compare that to 998 voters for the entire Election Day in 2004, and it is clear the turnout has increased quite a bit in 2008.
One poll worker said that the line of waiting voters earlier in the day stretched outside and encircled the elementary school serving as the precinct polling place. By 11 a.m., most commuters had cast their ballots and gone on to work, and polling sites were filled primarily with the elderly and mothers with small children.
Takoma Park is a very atypical U.S. town, with a national reputation as an extremely liberal community. With a population of around 18,000, divided into six electoral precincts, it has been described as a cross between Madison, Wisconsin, and Berkeley, California, because it combines a small-town feel with remnants of 1960s left-wing activism.
In a town that fans and critics alike call “The People’s Republic of Takoma Park,” there are so few Republican Party supporters that Democrat Al Gore won by a wide margin over Republican George Bush in the 2000 presidential election. Perhaps more surprising, then-Green Party candidate Ralph Nader also outpolled Bush by about 100 votes.
AN AMERICAN TOWN WITH A RICH HISTORY
The town was the first planned commuter suburb of Washington, established in 1883 along the railway running due north from Union Station near the U.S. Capitol. The community later became the national headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Takoma Park’s history as a liberal enclave began in the 1970s, when the town’s relatively cheap and gently decaying housing offered affordable homes for left-wing activists who had moved to Washington to lobby elected officials on issues such as the Vietnam War.
Near the elementary school polling place, a tent of campaign volunteers stood ready on Election Day to offer last-minute advice and literature to undecided voters. Maryland state law prohibits them from getting any closer than 30.48 meters from the school entrance.
However, nonpartisan electioneering by elementary school children is acceptable. Inside the school, the hallways were covered with their artwork, often an American flag, and advice such as, “Choose wisely,” and, “Just help the world.”
Waiting voters also were encouraged to enjoy donated baked goods and support the local parent-teacher association with a “donation of your choice.”
THE MOST LIBERAL TOWN IN AMERICA?
Takoma Park’s municipal legislation has set the town far apart from most of its neighbors. Well before President Bush’s proposed 2005 immigration reforms became a bone of contention between moderates and conservatives in Congress, the city, which is home to many Latinos, voted in 1992 to allow noncitizen residents to vote in municipal elections and be elected to municipal-level offices.
It was impossible for anyone standing in line at the polls to tell who was and who was not a citizen.
Instructions and election signs were printed in both English and Spanish. In Takoma Park, noncitizens are issued separate voting cards that allow them to vote for City Council and mayoral candidates, and only the election clerks can view those cards. At the end of the day, the cards are separated from those of U.S. citizens to ensure noncitizen votes are not counted among the tallies that election workers submit to the county headquarters for the votes for county, state and federal offices.
The City Council also declared Takoma Park a “sanctuary city” for immigrants by barring its officials from cooperating with immigration enforcement activities that target undocumented immigrants. It is the only Maryland town that offers rent control in an effort to help low-income individuals and families cope with increases in the cost of living.
In 1983, the City Council voted unanimously to make the town a “nuclear free zone,” outlawing all purchases or investments in companies that make nuclear weapons, components or delivery systems and prohibiting the transport of nuclear materials within the town. That last gesture was largely symbolic because the federal government, which designates all nuclear transport routes, has no routes through Takoma Park.
In 2007, the council adopted a resolution to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Although this measure also was largely symbolic, it did require the town council to lobby officials in Montgomery County and the Maryland General Assembly to enact similar legislation.
Takoma Park’s policies have made it an extremely liberal enclave in the already “blue” state of Maryland. But in a place where political activism is a pastime, the high number of voters turning out before even the middle of the day showed that, as in much of the rest of the United States, interest in the 2008 election was overwhelming and unprecedented.
