Love, Johnson, Blackwell, Cox win 4-year York Co. Council terms; others get 2

Donald Trump wasn’t the only one waiting well into Tuesday night to see if he’d serve the next four years. It wasn’t as tense for Allison Love, but the result is the same.

Love, an incoming member of the York County Council, won on Election Day with 14,876 votes for the council’s District 2 seat. Her contest, unopposed, was never in doubt. How long she will serve in the new term was.

York County voters were asked by ballot Tuesday whether to extend County Council terms from two years to four. If approved, the top four vote-getters in the seven council races would start in January on a four-year course.

The next three highest winners would serve two-year terms each, with those seats becoming four-year terms at the next election in order to stagger the council terms.

The ballot question was close all night. “No” votes led by a slim margin almost to the end.

But when all 95 York County precincts reported, votes to extend the terms came out ahead by just more than 1,000 votes. “Yes” won with 50.62 percent approval. The results are unofficial until certified by the county.

Six of the seven council seat races were unopposed.

Love garnered the most votes, with 14,876, which was almost 99 percent of the ballots cast in her district.

Councilman Michael Johnson in District 1, the only candidate who faced opposition, rode high voter turnout to the second highest total at 13,959 votes.

Council Chairman Britt Blackwell in District 6 had 13,167 votes, followed by Christi Cox at 12,929.

The recipients of the three lowest vote totals – Robert Winkler, 11,223; William “Bump” Roddey, 11,600; and Chad Williams, 8,889 – will serve two-year terms.

“Frankly, I am excited to be able to commit my time and energy for four years to the community,” Love said. “I am ready to get started, and two additional years will give me time to see some things on my list through.”

Love said she had supporters “confess” that while they voted for her, they also voted not to extend the terms.

“I do understand their concern with extending the term,” she said. “I value their honesty in telling me. We are fortunate to have so many people vote, and it means everything to me to have so much support.”

Cox sits in a unique position. She voted repeatedly against extending the council terms, but as a result of the vote Tuesday she will serve four years. It was all part of an unusual election night that “was certainly an exciting moment in our history,” Cox said.

“I personally vote no because I think two-year terms are in the best interest of the community, to give them more choice,” she said. “But the people have spoken, and I’ll serve as strong and as hard as I can with whatever term.”

Cox said breaking down the term decision shows there are many people, largely in rural areas, who opposed the extension.

“This was an extremely tight vote,” Cox said. “We as a council need to take note of that.”

Municipal and business leaders throughout the county pushed for extended council terms to provide continuity. Council members can spend more time on policy and less on campaigning, they said. The incoming council will have continuity, as all seven winners are incumbents.

“There are certainly benefits to the longer terms, but I think the benefits are outweighed by the loss,” Cox said.

Williams said he knew the vote Tuesday wouldn’t have an immediate impact on him.

“I knew where District 7 was going to end up one way or the other because of the history,” Williams said.

Williams said he voted to put the extended, staggered terms on the ballot this year not because he wanted to serve longer terms, but because of the input from community members.

“The whole time for me it was just about we had a group of people who thought it would help, and we put it on the ballot to let folks decide,” Williams said.

Individual term length shouldn’t impact the quality of service at the county level, he said, and putting the issue on a ballot shouldn’t be seen as a play for more time in office.

“It's irrelevant as far as I’m concerned,” Williams said. “It’s all about the people of York County get to decide how they want it, and they did.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Love, Johnson, Blackwell, Cox win 4-year York Co. Council terms; others get 2."