The process will continue up to early voting which begins next week.
Frederick, Md (KM) Local boards of elections in Maryland began canvassing mail-in votes on Monday. “The counties have until early voting starts to canvass as many votes as we can with the resources that we’re given, of course, to try to get all that done as much as possible ahead of election day,” says Anthony Gutierrez, the Deputy Election Director for Frederick County.
He says this gives local officials, the public and the media a chance to know more of the results on election night. “In addition, it’s helpful for the local boards to be able to do thousands and thousands of ballots prior to that crunch time at the end when we’re all tired and we don’t have as much space in the office, etc. We’re able to do that in a more efficient, better way prior to an election.” he says.
Even though the counting is underway, Gutierrez says results won’t be made public until after the polls close on election night. “We do not run results reports. We embargo those, and as you indicate, we will not release those until the polls close,” he said.
The Maryland General Assembly changed the law to allow local boards of election to begin their counting before election day.
Despite the count being underway, Gutierrez says citizens who want a mail-in ballot can still get one. . “There’s still plenty of time to request a mail-in ballot. Those deadlines aren’t until the week prior to the election. The Tuesday before the election is the deadline to request a ballot be mailed to you. And then that Friday before the election is the deadline to request it be transmitted via the internet,”: he says.
After filling out the ballot, it can be sent by mail, or placed in a drop box.
Early voting starts next week. Gutierrez says the Frederick County Board of Elections has been preparing for it for months. “That’s starts with procuring the locations, and then, of course, training the judges; and getting all the supplies ready; getting all the equipment tested,” he says. “So it’s starts, Thursday, October 24th. and it lasts for eight days straight until Thursday night, October 31st. So it does include that Saturday and Sunday in between.”
General election day is Tuesday, November 5th. The Frederick County Board of Elections says the hours at the polls are from 7:00 AM until 8:00 PM.
If you plan to cast your ballot during early voting or on election day, Gutierrez says security is in place to prevent any disruptions. “We do have a security plan in place that we enhance every election, try to do our lessons learned,” he says. “We don’t really talk about the details of that plan. We certainly wouldn’t want to give out any clues if someone were looking to be disruptive to the process.”
But anyone who sees something suspicious at a polling place, Gutierrez says bring it to the attention of the poll workers.
By Kevin McManus