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Three University of Maine students came up short in their historic quest for seats on the Orono Town Council.
Adam Kirkland, Morgan Malinowitz and Derek Mitchell each fell more than 350 votes short of being elected to one of the three seats on the governing board. Malinowitz, a junior nursing major, earned the most votes out of the three student candidates with 124. Adam Kirkland, a senior international affairs major, garnered 76 votes and Derek Mitchell, a sophomore double majoring in journalism and political science, received 55. If elected they would have been the first undergraduate students to serve on the Town Council.
Incumbents Lianne Harris and Terri Hutchinson were re-elected with 531 and 490 votes respectively. Thomas Perry received 520 votes to capture the seat vacated by Jo Carol Alford, who did not run for re-election.
Douglas Introne received 185 votes and Lucas Peterson garnered 102.
According to Orono Town Clerk Wanda Thomas, 782 of the 5817 registered voters cast ballots. That represented a 13-percent voter turnover, which doubled the 6-percent turnout in last year’s municipal election.
Mitchell said he wasn’t surprised that he and his fellow students lost because the elections were held during spring break.
“More people voted to elect the Student Government President and Vice President than did for the Town Council,” he said.
Mitchell added that the timing of the election was directly responsible for the low voter turnout.
“A good start to increasing voter turnout is to stop disenfranchising half of the voters,” Mitchell said.
Harris said the election date is something that should be discussed, but any change to the election date would require a change to the town’s charter.
Harris was impressed with the students, particularly at the candidates night held on campus.
“I really want to see students come to our council meetings,” she said. “I want to hear what they have to say.”
Mitchell said he was glad he ran for the council, and despite coming up short, believes they accomplished a great deal.
“We wanted to show the town we have our ability to make our voices heard,” he said. “Students have insight maybe the rest of the Town Council doesn’t have. A new set of eyes on a problem has never been a bad thing.”
Malinowitz said she hoped the election increased the students’ awareness about participating in local government.
“I plan to use this experience as a reference and aid in future success,” she said.
Harris said she hopes the students consider running again.
“Hopefully the students who ran will in their futures consider running for public office again,” she said. “It’s an important job.”
