City election process gets a review

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Glendale residents discussed the good, the bad and the future of the local election process in a well-attended town hall meeting hosted by City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian Wednesday.

Nearly 80 people packed the Glendale Police Department Community Room for a round-table dialogue on how the public viewed the April 3 municipal election and what improvements could be made for coming elections. Among those gathered were former candidates Herbert Molano, Vrej Agajanian and Lenore Solis.

The discussion was broken down into topics surrounding the preelection process, the election process and post-election process, and people were not short of praise and constructive criticism.

"I was happy with the participation," Kassakhian said. "I thought there was a lot of good comments and suggestions — there were some that were critical and there were some that were complimentary, and that was the purpose of it."

Kassakhian took notes as moderator Manuella Abrahamian fielded questions and comments from the public.

Members of the community had different reasons for attending the event. Some wanted to familiarize themselves with the election process, while others had suggestions for what could be done better.

"I want to learn more about the process of the election," Glendale resident Aram Kazazian said. "I'd also like to see more qualified people working at the election poles."

Among things people found a success about the April 3 election was the training of poll workers, the accessibility of city officials during the voting process and the new multilingual sample ballot.

Several suggestions arose regarding what could be improved upon.

Charlie and Bill Bennison, who counted absentee ballots during the election, said they would prefer if absentee ballots weren't turned in at the polls during election day, as upward of 1,400 came in that day and had to be counted and verified.

"It would be nice if absentee ballots were only used for people who really needed them and can't make it to the [polls]," Charlie Bennison said.

Other suggestions included better advertising of elections, districting, having all mail-in ballots and attracting groups with low voter turnout, particularly youth.

"The city needs to draw more young voters, we need to get the 18-to-32 crowd," said Glendale Arts and Culture Commissioner Amador Solis.

Molano also had an idea on the subject of bringing in voters.

"Id love to see some initiative to increase voter participation among the youth," he said. "I'd like to see us take the opportunity to register all graduating seniors from high school."

Both Kassakhian and community members said the meeting was informative and they were glad the public had a chance to express their concerns — a concept that Kassakhian said was an important part of the democratic process.

"It invigorates you and inspires you about what you — as an elected official — are there to do," he said.