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Greenbelt City Council Race Stirs Interest

UPDATED - November 03, 2009 5:39pm

GREENBELT, Md. - While many Maryland localities are holding elections for city council and mayor, the Greenbelt City Council race is one is of the more closely watched. At one of the city's busiest polling places, Sharon Vanzego cast her vote Tuesday, hoping to help elect at least one minority candidate to city council. "If I agree with what their goals are, then I'll support them," said Vanzego. If one or both of the two minority candidates competing for a city council seat wins, it'll be a first in this Prince George's community. The nearly 21,000 residents of Greenbelt are represented by an all-white city council -- even though nearly half the city is black. "Unfortunately, more who are black have not run for city council more often in the past and I hope they will in the future," said Greenbelt resident and voter Wayne Williams. "White to me doesn't matter," added Daman Agobe. "What matters to me is who can do the job." Until this year, only two black candidates had ever run for council. Neither was successful. The NAACP and the ACLU complained last year and the City added two council seats and increased outreach and voter education in areas with a high proportion of minority voters. This year, Emmett Jordan and Che Sayles are vying for votes. Dorothy Brown says she chose one of them -- but not because of his race. "I like what the person does," Brown said. "Not necessarily the color of their skin." While voters were encouraged to do their part, not everyone did. Some residents said while they don't like that the city council is all white, they have no plans to do anything about it, including LaToya Kiah. "Just busy. Just busy," Kiah said. "Just general life, too much going on." Sharon Vanzego says that's a shame. "It's just a lack of informing yourself," she said. "It's just something you really need to care enough about." The polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Maryland.

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