AUBURN -  A motion to place the issue of ending Auburn’s ward system for electing city council members on the general election ballot failed Monday.

 City Councilman and mayor candidate Chris Erickson said county election officials told him it would make elections a lot easier and would eliminate the need to re-draw wards based on the census every 10 years.

Erickson: “To me, if we have one person from each ward run every year or three people at large run every year, it’s not like we’re having a whole bunch of people running opposed in elections. I think the last two that were in Ward 2 and Ward 3 and I don’t know how many years you’ve been on, but it’s been awhile, so it was my way of saving the city money of redoing the wards every 10 years and the county clerk’s office would really like it, if we didn’t have wards.”

Based on the 2020 census, Auburn’s three wards each have over 2,300 residents.

City council candidate Nathan Seitz said the current system allows anyone in town to run for election every two years.

 

Seitz: “I would just say that you run the risk, if you move to an at-large style election, that you could really – if you have a certain clique that wants to try and control the city or a certain family, if they do things the correct way, they could, in fact, get six people sitting up here instead of having representation throughout the town.”

Erickson’s motion failed on a vote of 1 to 4.