The upcoming May election has more than City Council and school board seats on the ballot. All residents will be able to vote on charter amendments and other propositions.
The Taylor Citizens Coalition is hosting a 2024 pre-election rally Monday, April 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Sirloin Stockade, 3607 N. Main St.
According to Shannon Luedtke, the Citizens Coalition is the same organization that put together the city charter amendment package and gathered enough petition signatures to put the amendments on the ballot.
She said the goal of the rally is to be able to share more about the charter amendments, how they came to be and what they are hoping to accomplish by getting the amendments passed.
“The goal of this is to make this an educational experience for citizens,” Luedtke said.
Luedtke said each candidate for the Taylor City Council election was messaged on Facebook and invited to attend.
She said candidates who show up will be allotted five minutes to speak about themselves or their platform and will have the choice of allowing questions from the audience or not.
According to Luedtke, another goal of the rally is to encourage an increase in voter turnout.
“They have the chance to have their voice heard in District 2 and District 3 on their council representative,” Luedtke said. “What we want everyone to understand is this isn’t just a District 2 and District 3 election, this an election for all districts.”
She said the coalition plans to publicly release an agenda for the rally Friday, April 12.
In-person early voting takes place from April 22 to April 30. The election day is May 4.
Seats for the general election for Taylor City Council are District 2, currently held by Mitch Drummond, and District 3, currently held by Mayor Brandt Rydell. Rydell announced in January that he is not seeking re-election.
Drummond, Heather (Shelli) Cobb, Terry Burris and Sandra Wolff have filed for the District 2 seat so far. Kelly Cmerek and Nathan Walker are registered for the District 3 seat.
Walker said online that he wants to withdraw from the race, but is still listed as a candidate on Taylor’s website as of April 5.
