Your Vote 2022

Yardley voters reject ballot question about reducing the size of borough council

A Republican committeeman asked the Bucks County court to certify a ballot question about cutting the size of council after he got 150 people to sign a petition for it.

Kenny Cooper

Updated Nov. 9, 2022 11:42 am

Yardley Community Center. (Google Maps)

Yardley Borough residents voted against reducing the size of Yardley Borough Council from seven members to five.

Nearly 58% of Yardley voters said “no” to a ballot question asking if they wanted to cut the size of the council, according to unofficial election results from Bucks County.

Resident Earl Markey III asked the Bucks County court in August to certify the ballot question after he got 150 people to sign a petition in support of his proposal.

Markey is a Republican committeeman in the borough. He believed that a reduction would solve the issue of council vacancies and make governance of the one-square-mile borough more effective.

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“Council has a lot of people, but it’s ineffective. It doesn’t really do, it just talks a lot. It doesn’t really get stuff done. So we think less people will get more done, hopefully,” Markey told WHYY News in August.

Council President Caroline Thompson previously told WHYY News that she was opposed to any reduction in council’s size.

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