Increasing pressure could lead five members of the Prince George’s County Council to reconsider their vote not to allow a colleague to vote on legislation in the weeks after she gives birth.
Attendance at council and committee meetings must be in-person, as do all recorded votes. Last week, the full council met in what’s known as the Committee of the Whole to vote on the measure that would allow Council member Krystal Oriadha to vote virtually.
Tempers flared last week, and long-standing grudges and grievances were aired out in public, after five members of the county council voted against the rule change. Even though the sixth vote, Council member Jolene Ivey, was out sick, the measure would have needed eight of 11 votes to ultimately pass in the future.
At Tuesday’s meeting, even after olive branches were extended, things got heated in the council chambers again, following a rally that was held outside.
“Re-vote, re-vote, re-vote,” was the call during the rally, as the five lawmakers who voted for the rule change last week gathered with activists.
“This is bigger than politics. This is about every single woman that wants to have the opportunity to serve in the seat I have after me,” said Krystal Oriadha during the rally.
A statement issued Monday morning from the five who voted against the rule change said that council Chair Tom Dernoga had the power to make council meetings virtual if he wanted to. During the rally, he disputed that, saying his lawyers told him there was no “magic wand” that could do that.
But when everyone went inside for the normal Tuesday meeting, word got around that the five who voted against the rule change had something more to say.
After hearing from residents who were upset by the vote last week, Council member Ingrid Watson took to the microphone and reread the statement she signed her name on to Monday.
Watson finished by saying, “In the spirit of compromise, and knowing this division is not something the county needs right now, we will support the resolution with amendments with the hopes that we can all work together without vilifying each other publicly.”
Despite apparently getting the re-vote she wanted next week, Oriadha lashed out at the five who voted against the virtual voting rules.
“How dare you write a statement that blatantly, blatantly pretends to care about me when you do not,” Oriadha said. “You don’t have to, but don’t pretend it to clean up your image.
“The time in which they said a woman like me should give birth in a field and go back to pick cotton is over,” she continued. “You are forced to do the right thing. And we and the voters will not forget that.”
That segment of the meeting finished with Dernoga and Council member Mel Franklin confirming they expect, for now at least, to reach a compromise and have a unanimous vote on the matter next week.
