Letter to Editor: Who Should Vote in Oxford?

What the heck is going on in Oxford? Last Tuesday, during an official Commissioner discussion on allowing non-residents the right to vote in local Oxford elections, Commissioner Greer said she did not think that the current Oxford voters should be allowed to vote on the issue of whether to expand the voting pool on local issues to non-residents. She did not think that it was Democratic to let the people who live and vote in Oxford to decide a significant Charter change. WHAT?

It is our right and duty to vote on issues of this importance. Next, she will say we should allow people who don’t live in Oxford to run for office. Perhaps she would like to share why no other government entity in Talbot County, the MidShore, or the State lets people who are not domiciled there to vote there. We are talking about people who have another residence that is their primary residence – they pay their income taxes there, vote there.

The Oxford Town Board of Elections views the change unfavorably.

And on April 11, 2025, Oxford Town Attorney Lyndsey Ryan pointed out”…It is consistent with the ruling in Tobin v North Beach, that permitting non-resident property owners to vote in a town election violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by diluting the votes of town residents.”
So, what is the benefit to our town, our Oxford, to allow non-residents to vote here? Who stands to gain? It is not the residents of Oxford.

Susan Delean-Botkin
Oxford