The final, decisive phase of Maryland primary season vote-counting begins Thursday with first peek at mail-in ballots

The next phase of Maryland’s 2022 primary will kick off Thursday as elections offices across the state begin canvassing the hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots cast. Thus far, returns from in-person voting, both early and on primary day, have painted an incomplete picture of several key races across the state. Incomplete turnout figures show about 17% of the state’s 3.7 million eligible voters participated in the primary in person. The addition of mail-in ballots already cast will bring total turnout to roughly 23%, a figure comparable to the 25% turnout Maryland saw in the last gubernatorial primary in 2018. Turnout in 2014 was around 22%.