City residents will have a chance to air their views about the election changes that went into effect in the November 2011 mayor and City Council elections at a meeting next week.

On Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m., the Laurel Board of Election Supervisors will hold a public meeting in the council chambers at the Laurel Municipal Center, 8103 Sandy Spring Road, to discuss the election process and to hear from voters about such changes as early voting, voting by ward and the second polling location.

Nearly 1,900 of Laurel's 14,433 eligible voters cast their votes in the city's November election, when Mayor Craig Moe and at-large Council member Michael Leszcz were re-elected in contested races; and Council members Edward Ricks and Valerie Nicholas were elected to Ward 1 seats, and Donna Crary and Fred Smalls were re-elected to Ward 2 seats, in uncontested races.

Changes in the election process initiated in November included Ward 2 residents voting in their own ward instead of traveling to Ward 1; three days of early voting, which used hand-written paper ballots instead of voting machines; and no-excuse absentee voting, which was expected to increase the number of absentee ballots. According to Kimberley Rau, clerk to the Laurel Board of Election Supervisors, 230 voters took advantage of early voting and the city received 65 absentee ballots for November's election, an increase from the six absentee ballots received in the 2008 elections.

For information on the meeting, contact Rau at 301-725-5300, ext. 2121 or krau@laurel.md.us.