Hopkinsville City Council will wait until it can meet again in person at city hall before trying to adopt a nonpartisan election ordinance.
During a teleconference meeting Tuesday night, the council voted 10-2 to defer adoption of the ordinance until its next regular meeting on July 7. That meeting is expected to be the first time the council is back at city hall since the state adopted guidelines for virtual meetings to prevent the spread of COVID-19, although city officials said state regulations might limit attendance at the meeting to 50 people.
On a second vote, which passed unanimously, the council then agreed it would consider the nonpartisan election ordinance at the July 7 meeting only if that meeting is conducted live at city hall.
The council had been scheduled to vote on an ordinance that passed 7-4 on first reading May 19. However, Councilman Terry Parker quickly motioned to defer the vote, and Don Ahart seconded the motion. Voting in favor of deferring the vote, in addition to Parker and Ahart, were Travis Martin, Tom Johnson, Jimmy Dossett, Jason Bell, Phillip Brooks, Kimberly McCarley, Paul Henson and Amy Craig. Voting against the motion were Patricia Waddell-Bell and Darvin Adams.
Adams offered the motion to require the next vote at a live meeting, and McCarley seconded his motion. Adam has been the most vocal opponent of nonpartisan elections; much of his criticism centers on the council voting on the switch while the public is limited in its ability to interact with council members. The council’s teleconference meetings have been conducted with each member connecting to an online meeting app from their homes or offices.
At the start of the meeting, Lynch encouraged the council to delay the final vote on nonpartisan elections.
“My real hope is that we will stand down on this and wait,” he said, adding the council does not have to rush the decision.
If adopted, the ordinance will go into effect in 2022 for the city’s mayoral and council races.
Voters would continue to vote only in their own wards in the primary, as they do now. The two candidates receiving the most votes in each ward would advance as ward nominees to the general election in November. Voters would then cast ballots citywide in the general election, as they do now in the partisan system.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
