Politics

Returns from Baltimore’s in-person voting on primary day were delayed about 24 hours Wednesday as election officials searched for missing flash drives containing vote totals for 12 city precincts. Elections Director Armstead Jones said Wednesday the flash drives were not hand delivered to the central office Tuesday night as required. Staff searched for the drives as they processed election equipment returned from each of the city’s 296 precincts. Jones said the drives are sometimes tucked into cabinets or bags when equipment is returned.

Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler on Thursday became the latest candidate to concede in the Democratic governor’s race. In a message to supporters posted on social media, Gansler said the results of the race “were personally very disappointing.” “For me, the outcome brings to a close 46 years in politics and elected office, though not my lifelong desire to serve others,” he said.

As the Carroll County Board of Elections began its count Thursday morning of 8,118 mail-in ballots, several candidates for the Board of Carroll County Commissioners said they are anxiously awaiting results. Elections Director Katherine Berry said Wednesday afternoon that the county had received a total of 9,345 mail-in ballots thus far, but only 8,118 would be counted Thursday. The rest, and any additional received, would be counted during the July 29 canvass. The election results will be certified on July 29.

President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and went into isolation with mild symptoms. White House officials went all-out to show that the 79-year-old U.S. leader could power through the virus and keep working because he was vaccinated and boosted. In a navy blazer and Oxford shirt, Biden recorded a video on a White House balcony to send the message that he would be fine and the country should stay calm and carry on.

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%.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby faces an uphill battle to overcome a nine-point deficit to defense attorney Ivan Bates in the Democratic primary for the city’s top prosecutor. Mosby, who is vying for a third term in office, needs a substantial amount of the mail-in ballots to go her way and for Bates and former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah to split the remaining votes.

As a blistering rematch for Montgomery County executive between incumbent Marc Elrich and Potomac businessman David Blair winds down this week, the Democratic primary candidates are again stuck where they were four years ago: watching and waiting. Elrich eked out a 77-vote win in 2018, looking to make his mark as the leader of the deep-blue county, where the primary victor typically prevails in November. This time he had a track record as executive to defend, and repeatedly found himself on the ropes in a contest that became increasingly negative as Tuesday’s primary election neared.

Early voting and Election Day counts were enough to call winners in 12 of 16 congressional races, even as hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots have yet to be counted. The Republican contests in districts two, three, four and seven were still too close to call Wednesday. All seven incumbents representing Maryland in Congress and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen secured their parties’ nominations Tuesday. But come November, newly drawn congressional district maps assigned this year by the Maryland General Assembly may set up some historically blue districts to trend purple, giving the winners of Tuesday’s Republican primaries a wedge into traditionally Democratic strongholds.