UPDATED: Saturday is Election Day in Rehoboth Beach!
UPDATED – 08/09/24 – Saturday is election day in Rehoboth Beach! There are four candidates vying for 2 open seats. Suzanne Goode, Rachel Macha, Mark Saunders and Craig Thier are looking to fill the seats being vacated by incumbents Toni Sharp and Tim Bennett who are not running for re-election. The polls are open from 10am to 6pm at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center.
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ORIGINAL STORY – 08/05/24 – With less than a week to election day, the four candidates for the two Rehoboth Beach commissioner seats are keeping busy.
Rachel Macha held a rally at Aqua this past Friday. Among those attending were former Commissioners Dick Byrne and Pat Coluzzi as well as past and current planning commissioners.
Photo courtesy Kirk Monroe
Macha says spending, fiscal responsibility and communication and transparency are the three top priorities for her if elected.
Also attending the rally was Macha’s new puppy, Louie, a nephew of Duke, her Bernese mountain dog who died earlier this summer.
Craig Thier says he and his wife, Lorrie, continue to canvas daily. She spent the latter part of last week in the Rehoboth Beach Country Club neighborhood while he followed up in person with the daily requests from voters interested in hearing about his campaign.
Mark Saunders says he too continues to meet with groups of voters to hear what they would like to see from the Board of Commissioners going forward. “They all agree financial responsibility is key, and hope future large expenditures will be vetted by the public before being voted on,” he said. “Deauville Beach is still a hot topic, and most want us to reopen negotiations as soon as possible to get this beach back under city ownership,” Saunders added.
Suzanne Goode says she is “Slogging away at the doors and the personalized emails to voters.” She will be meeting with voters today, Monday, at 3 p.m. at the Rehoboth Avenue Starbucks.
According to the city, as of Friday, 337 of the 465 absentee ballots, about 72 percent, that were requested have been returned to the city.
This is how it compares with the last three elections. Absentee ballot requests spiked in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Registered voters for 2021: 1703 (28 fewer than 2020)
Number of voters: 618
Number of absentee voters: 572
Total voters: 1190 (70 percent of registered voters; 15 percent fewer than 2020)
Registered voters for 2020: 1731 (230 more than 2019)
Number of voters: 325
Number of absentee voters: 1146
Total voters: 1471 (85 percent of registered voters; 16 percent more than 2019)
Registered voters for 2019: 1501 (34 fewer than 2018)
Number of voters: 701
Number of absentee voters: 335
Total voters: 1036 (69 percent of registered voters; 3 percent more than 2018)
Video from the July Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association candidate forum is online. Candidate bios/statements are also on the RBHA website. The Rehoboth Beach municipal election will be this coming Saturday, August 10. Additional info is on the city’s website.
