Local elections was the topic Tuesday for an open house organized by the city of Lewiston.
At the event, Lewiston’s elected officials heard about three possible ways to select city councilors, all based on four-year terms, and listened to comments from the public. The discussion is part of the community’s shift to a strong mayor form of government that replaced the previous structure, where the city manager oversaw the town’s day-to-day operations.
The city council is considering keeping the existing at-large system, where the top three vote-getters win and are selected by all of Lewiston’s registered voters. But another possibility is electing city councilors by district. Each district, as much as possible, would contain about the same number of residents based on federal census numbers. Council members would have to live in the district they represent and be selected only by registered voters in their district. A third option would be to number the seats and require candidates to specify what seat they were seeking. All Lewiston registered voters would be allowed to vote for all the seats on the ballot.
The next city council election will be in November 2023 and the town’s mayor will continue to be elected by all registered Lewiston voters regardless of how city councilors are selected. Campaign and election costs are one of the factors city councilors are weighing. The council made no decisions at the meeting.
A survey on the topic can be found on the city’s website by clicking here. That survey will be available until later this month. (Lewiston Tribune)
