All mail-in ballots must be counted by Fri., July 29th.
Frederick, Md. (KM) – The counting will continue from Tuesday’s primary election day. Frederick County Deputy Election Director Anthony Gutierrez says the mail-in ballots still need to be tallied. “Thursday morning at 10-o-clock, the local Board of Canvassers will start reviewing and canvassing those mail-in ballots,” he says.
Mail-in ballots are those which have come in by the US Postal Service, or were deposited in drop boxes around the county.
Gutierrez says it may be a while before the final results are known. “Under election law, we’re required to try to finish that task within ten days, or by Friday, July 29th,”: he says. “We are certainly hopeful that we can get through those 11,000 plus whatever comes in.”
He says as of Tuesday, about 11,000 mail-in ballots arrived at the County Election Office. The County will continue to accept mail-in ballots ten days after election day, if the ballots are postmarked on or before July 19th. Provisional ballots will be counted on Wednesday, July 27th.
As for primary election day itself, Gutierrez says it was “steady and slow” at the polling places. He says most voters had no problems getting into the polls to cast their ballots. “The reports of low overall turnout, I believe that the voters are being accommodated in a timely matter, yes,” Gutierrez says.
By Kevin McManus