OCEAN CITY — Two incumbents and two relative newcomers were elected to the Ocean City Council this week in a municipal election with an abysmally low turnout for a variety of reasons.
Around 23% of Ocean City’s roughly 6,500 registered voters, or 1,528 individuals, cast their ballots in Tuesday’s municipal election, including 1,300 who voted at the polls and another 228 who submitted absentee ballots. By comparison, 2,566 voters turned out for the 2018 municipal election, which was one of the closest in memory with just four votes separating second place from fourth place. In 2016, 2,485 voters cast their ballots in the municipal election.
Nonetheless, when the results were announced late Tuesday, local attorney Peter Buas was the top vote-getter with 1,137 votes. Incumbent John Gehrig was second with 1,036, while incumbent Tony DeLuca was third with 919 and Frank Knight earned the fourth and final spot with 704 votes. Nicholas Eastman finished fifth with 491 votes, while Daniel Hagan brought up the rear with 439. For the record, incumbent Mayor Rick Meehan ran unopposed and collected 1,146 votes.
It was guaranteed there would be at least two new faces on the city council going into Tuesday’s municipal election after long-time incumbents Dennis Dare and Mary Knight (Frank Knight’s wife) did not file for re-election. Gehrig and DeLuca cruised to re-election, while Buas was the top vote-getter, continuing a recent trend of young candidates making a big splash in their first attempt at a council seat. In 2014, current Councilman Matt James became the youngest successful council candidate ever at the ripe age of 21 and recorded the highest vote tally in that election.
What’s interesting is word on the street has Mary Knight planning on running for a county seat out in the county and not her current councilman mic district. The councilman district that OV is in is currently held by Joe Metricic. Is she leaving her husband or is she just pretending to be living in a new house out in the county while her husband is pretending to live in Ocean City? Someone better watch that race!
Why should the OC voters be concerned with casting votes. The Town took away nearly all they had to offer voters including lousy transportation service.