Council candidates'voting records vary widely
A Norman Transcript analysis of voting records of the eight candidates for Norman City Council showed records ranging from the mediocre at 27 percent to one candidate with a stellar 100 percent voting record for the past four years, according to records obtained at the Cleveland County Election Board.
Ward 4 candidate Chris Jingozian topped the field, the only candidate with a 100 percent voting record. The 25-year-old candidate, who works in the mental health field, is the youngest of the council candidates and registered to vote in 2000. He cast his vote in-person in all 16 elections he was eligible for during the past four years.
"If you don't vote, you can't complain," Jingozian said, joking that he has always enjoyed complaining. "I had to go vote."
He is aware that many of his generation don't vote and encourages them at every opportunity. He said he enjoys politics and the political process.
"Get out there and say what you need to say," Jingozian said.
Jingozian was one of four candidates who braved darkened precinct voting stations to vote in the Dec. 11 school bond election, the day after the disasterous Dec. 10 ice storm in central Oklahoma left more than half of Norman without power and dodging downed tree branches and power lines. He was joined at the polls Dec. 11 by Ward 4 incumbent Carol Price Dillingham and Ward 2 candidates Chebon Marshall and Tom Kovach.
Dillingham voted 14 times out of the 18 votes she was eligible for, using in-person and absentee voting methods for a 77 percent record. She had a perfect record in 2006 and 2007. In 2004, Dillingham missed the Presidential primary election and missed three out of four votes in 2005.
The other Ward 4 candidate, Greg Jungman, cast his vote only five times of the 18 votes in which he was eligible, for a 27 percent voting record. Jungman registered to vote in 1996.
Jungman, a Rose State University professor and federal employee, cast his vote in-person in one out of seven elections in 2004, none in 2005, three of four in 2006 and one out of three in 2007. None of the votes were in school-related elections.
"I honestly could not say why I didn't vote," he said. "Usually it's a matter of do you get there or do you not."
Jungman said he knows it's a low number of votes and he believes it's important to vote.
In Ward 2, political consultant Chebon Marshall voted in 13 of the 18 elections in which he was eligible for a 72 percent record. As the former Chief of Staff for former Congressman Brad Carson, Marshall cast three absentee votes in eight elections in 2004 and 2005. But after returning to Norman in early 2005 when Carson left office, Marshall voted in-person in 100 percent of the elections in which he was eligible.
Ward 2 candidate Tom Kovach, a Norman small businessman, voted in 12 out of 18 elections in the four-year period checked, for a 66 percent voting record. Kovach voted in four of seven 2004 votes, two of four in 2005, three of four in 2006, and all three of 2007 votes.
Michael McKee, also in Ward 2, voted a third of the time. The Norman attorney voted in six of the 18 elections in which he was eligible, voting half absentee and half in-person in two general elections, three primary and runoff elections and one state question on gas tax hikes. Records show he did not vote in any school elections.
In Ward 6, small businesswoman Lou Mansfield voted in 72 percent or 13 of the 18 elections where she was eligible. Mansfield voted in 100 percent of the 2006 elections and two out of three elections in 2007, missing the Dec. 11 election.
Ward 6 candidate James Griffith, a Norman dentist, voted in 10 of 18 elections for a 55 percent voting record. Griffith voted in five of seven 2004 elections, one of four in 2005, three of four in 2006, and one of three in 2007. He did not vote in any of the school-related elections.
Carol Cole-Frowe
366-3538
ccole@normantranscript.com
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