Local Election Night Coverage

Get up-to-the-minute election coverage Tuesday night from our local cable stations. Here's the full press release:

Six stations that are members in the Montgomery County PEG (Public / Education / Government) organization of community cable stations are combining resources to be the main place to find up-to-date information on Tuesday, June 24, when County voters go to the polls for primary elections concerning County Government, the County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly, Governor and other statewide races. The stations will broadcast live throughout the evening, immediately posting results made available by the County’s Board of Elections.

Primary Election Night 2014 coverage will be simulcast by:

• County Cable Montgomery (CCM: Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon)
• Montgomery Community Media (Channel 21 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
• Montgomery County Public Schools Television (MCPS TV: Channel 34 on Comcast; Channel 89 on RCN; Channel 36 on Verizon)
• Montgomery College TV (MCTV: Channel 10 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
• Rockville 11 (Rockville 11: Channel 11 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
• Takoma Park City TV (Takoma City TV: Channel 13 on Comcast; Channel 13 on RCN; Channel 28 on Verizon) 

Internet streaming video coverage of the broadcast will be available through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

The polls are scheduled to close at 8 p.m. on June 24. Election night television coverage will begin at 8 p.m. and will continue through 11 p.m. Results of early voting—held from June 12-19—are expected to be available before 8:30 p.m. After the show ends at 11 p.m., results will continue to be updated and broadcast on CCM. Those results will run overnight and into the morning hours, with morning updates. 

The show will include a variety of political insiders looking at the chief issues voters had to consider and analyzing results as they come in. Guests scheduled include current County Councilmember Cherri Branson, who is not seeking re-election; former County Councilmembers Bruce Adams, Valerie Ervin and Mike Knapp; City of Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton; Town of Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin; Mayor of Kensington Peter Fosselman; Katja Bullock, vice chair of the Montgomery GOP; Casey Aiken, host of the 21 this Week political talk show on MCM; Charles Duffy, host of Political Pulse on the Montgomery Municipal Channel; long-time political insider Steve Simon; local blogger Dan Reed, author of Just Up the Pike; and Bethesda Magazine political reporter Louis Peck.

Sonya Burke and Susan Kenedy will anchor the three hours of studio coverage. Julie Little Rios, Valerie Bonk and Mike Bruen will provide live on-the-scene coverage from various locations around the County.

“The PEG organization stations have been working hard to redefine how they can best serve the residents of Montgomery County. Providing immediate election results is one way we can meet that mission,” said Merlyn Reineke, executive director of MCM and president of the PEG Governing Board. “From the feedback we had from our primary and general election coverage in 2010, we know that people turned to our PEG stations and viewed our broadcast via the Internet because we provided better and faster local election results than other news channels. Once again, our broadcast will be chiefly about Montgomery County results all night, but we also will be watching how the County voted in the statewide elections.”

The results will focus on election results in races for County Executive, the County Council and the County delegation to the State House of Delegates and the State Senate. Results also will be included in the primaries for Montgomery Board of Education, Governor, state attorney general and for the three Congressional districts that represent Montgomery County.

TV Special on Poverty in Montgomery County

Montgomery County ranks among counties with the highest median incomes. We take pride in being the economic engine of Maryland. Our schools make the lists of the best in the nation, Yet we have pockets of poverty that are not easily seen. Families of working poor and people whose circumstances have taken dramatic turns for the worse due to the economic conditions of the past few years make up an increasing portion of our community.

We have people in this county who have lost significant jobs and have been unable to find other employment. We have people who work two jobs, and when they add up their paychecks, they still do not have enough to pay their basic bills. These families live right here, and they need help—but they are not always easy to identify.

That’s why I asked County Cable Montgomery to help shine a light on the hidden poverty within our county. We often only get a chance to see the affluence in Montgomery County, and this television program, The Unseen Montgomery, gives us a chance to see a growing part of life here.

The Unseen Montgomery, a 30-minute show terrifically produced and hosted by Susan Kenedy, points out that, on average, it requires a family income of $73,000 for a family of four to provide for all of its living essentials. But it also states that, over the past five years, Montgomery County has seen a 52 percent increase in the number of people receiving assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps) and that more than 5,600 families a month receive food from the Manna Food Center, a nonprofit that acts as the local food bank.

The first broadcast of The Unseen Montgomery will be at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. It will replay that day at 8 p.m. The next scheduled rebroadcast will be at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9. It will be rebroadcast at various future times that have yet to be determined. CCM is broadcast as Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN and Channel 30 on Verizon. You can also see the broadcast via streaming on the County Web site or on YouTube.

The show identifies nonprofits that provide help to those in need, including Manna; A Wider Circle, which collects used furniture and household items for those in need; and the Food Recover Network, which collects unused food from restaurants and venue concession operators for nonprofit organizations that redistribute it to those in need. Also featured are the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, a structured program that seeks to get people free of assistance, and Arleeta’s Pantry at the Woodside Methodist Church in Silver Spring.

All Committee Meetings Now Available Live on TV or Internet

Now you can watch all of the County Council’s committee meetings from the comfort of your home or anywhere with Internet access.

All of our committee meetings now either are being broadcast live on County Cable Montgomery or recorded for later broadcast on the County’s cable station. At times when two committees are meeting simultaneously, you now have the option of seeing one meeting live on television and the other on the Internet via streaming.

The move to broadcast all committee meetings—which total approximately 190 in an average year—is part of the County’s Open Government Initiative to make more aspects of government operations accessible to the public.

The County has long had the policy of televising live all Council sessions and public hearings on County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). Special events such as town hall meetings hosted by the Council or the County Executive are either broadcast live or recorded for later broadcast.

Apply Now to Cable and Communications Advisory Committee

We’re taking applications for four vacancies on the Cable and Communications Advisory Committee. The deadline to submit applications is Wednesday, November 14.

The Committee advises the County Executive and the County Council on franchise agreements between the County government and providers of cable television service. It also advises on the use of funds provided by cable operators to support local television programming and other cable related activities.

The Advisory Committee has 15 voting members, which include one representative selected by the Montgomery County Chapter of the Maryland Municipal League; one representative selected by the City of Rockville; and one representative selected by the City of Takoma Park. Public members should broadly represent technology areas.

Members serve three-year terms without compensation, but are eligible for reimbursement for travel and dependent care for meetings attended. Meetings are held the fourth Wednesday evening of each month in Rockville. Individuals selected for appointment must file a confidential financial disclosure statement within fifteen days of Council confirmation and annually thereafter.

Applicants of diverse backgrounds, professions, gender, geography, disability and ethnicity are encouraged to apply. An application, consisting of a brief cover letter and resume, should be sent by mail to County Executive Isiah Leggett, 101 Monroe Street, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850, or by email to countyexecutive.boards@montgomerycountymd.gov. Home and employment addresses, as well as contact phone numbers and email addresses should be included.