Manlius GOP petitions for ward system

TOWN OF MANLIUS – Republicans in the town of Manlius have submitted a petition in an attempt to force a vote on a change to the town’s political structure.
On July 14, a petition was dropped off at the town clerk’s office in support of converting the town to a ward system, in which the town would be carved up into six districts, each with an elected representative on the town board. The timing of the petition would require the town to hold a special election on the plan sometime in September.
An objection to the petition was filed with the town clerk on July 19 by Robert Wheeler of Manlius.
It is up to town clerk Allison Weber to accept or reject the petition, a decision she said she wants to make quickly so the town can prepare for the special election, if necessary. If she accepts it, the town would be required to hold a special election on the matter between 60 and 75 days from the date it was filed.
For decades, Republicans dominated politics in the town of Manlius, but that shifted dramatically in the past several years. In 2017, Democrats overtook Republicans in overall party registrations in the town and now have an enrollment advantage of nearly 2,000 over the GOP. In total, 36 percent of registered voters in the town are Democrats, 29 percent are not enrolled in a party, and 28 percent are Republicans.
While Democrats hold large enrollment advantages in and around the villages of Manlius and Fayetteville, the village of Minoa is split nearly evenly between the parties and areas in the eastern and northern portions of the town are Republican strongholds.
Currently, there are no representatives on the town board from the Minoa area. The last representative from Minoa to serve was Republican Supervisor Ed Theobald, who left office at the end of his term in 2021 and declined to seek reelection. All seven of the representatives on the town board are Democrats and all hail from the areas around Manlius and Fayetteville.
“I’m all about fair representation and everyone having a voice,” said Tim Kelly, chairman of the Manlius Republican Committee and candidate for town supervisor. “It’s not a party thing. It’s that there isn’t a voice in that part of the town.”
Nonetheless, the names of those that solicited for signatures on the petition are a veritable who’s who of the Manlius GOP, including Kelly, town board candidate Dave Barnwell, Fayetteville Mayor and County Legislator Mark Olson, former County Legislator Kevin Holmquist, state Assembly candidate Karen Ayoub, and Theobald.
The petitions were largely circulated in March through May and were submitted to the town clerk July 14, which supervisor John Deer said he suspects was done on purpose to force a special election, rather than allowing voters to decide the measure during the general election in November, when turnout will be higher. Because of the rushed nature of the election, Deer said it is likely the only polling place will be town hall and it is unlikely there will be early voting options.
Deer said that Democrats in the town had also considered looking into a ward system for the town, but if they were to do so they would want to do it with plenty of notice to residents and hold the vote in a presidential election year when turnout would be at its highest, rather than trying to overhaul the town’s political structure in a period of 60 days.
“The town does not have a way of notifying all the residents about this election,” Deer said at last week’s town board meeting. “When you have special elections, you tend to have very low turnout.”
Kelly disagreed, saying that his interpretation of the law indicates that a special election would have been required either way, because the law states that the town – not the Onondaga County Board of Elections – must administer the election.
“I don’t agree with that. I don’t think that’s the case,” said Kelly. “A special election, everyone has the opportunity to vote.”
If the measure passes in September, it would be up to the two Onondaga County elections commissioners (one from each party) to draw the lines for the six districts. Like congressional districts, the lines must be drawn to provide approximately equal representation for town residents.
It is also unclear when the ward system would go into practice. In November, voters will select three town board members to four-year terms. The law regarding ward systems currently requires all board members to run concurrently every two years, so Deer suggested the earliest the ward system could go into effect would be for the 2027 election when the terms of the councilors elected this November expire.
“I don’t know of any way you can shorten an elected official’s term,” Deer said.
Kelly said the town could have a ballot proposition to have the terms remain four-years and to stagger the terms so you don’t have turnover of the entire board all at once.
Ward systems in towns are rare, but not unheard of. The town of Salina, for instance, has four town councilors, each representing one of the town’s four wards. The town of Camillus has six wards and six town councilors.