Voter Turnout: How Rockville Compares With Other Cities

Although more than half of they city’s population is registered to vote, city records show just under 17 percent of the city’s electorate cast ballots in the last city election.

That’s 6,240 of Rockville’s 36,840 registered voters heading to the polls in 2011.

But compared with other municipalities, voter turnout was higher in Rockville.

Only 9 percent of Gaithersburg’s registered voters cast ballots in its 2011 municipal elections, the city’s election records show.

Gaithersburg’s elections are staggered so that half the governing body is up for election every two years. The mayor and council serve four-year terms in Gaithersburg.

Gaithersburg City Manager Tony Tomassello said the city changed its election date from April to November about 10 years ago. There had been prior discussions about having council members represent districts, but Tomassello said that idea never gained much traction.

In Prince George’s County, 4,597 of the 40,372 registered voters in Bowie participated in its 2011 municipal elections, about 11 percent of the city’s electorate. 

This year, Bowie will add a ballot referendum on whether to extend Bowie Council members’ terms from two years to four.