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Elections across Maryland were closed in Tuesday's primary election, with the exception of three constituencies in North Baltimore where voters can continue to vote before 9pm.
Baltimore IT Academy will remain open until 21:00. to allow voters from three constituencies to vote an hour longer because election officials could not access voting materials at the opening of the polls, Election Council officials said. All the results of the advance vote will be held until the vote ends in these three constituencies, according to the council.
The state-wide vote has been complicated by a last-minute revelation that 80,000 people are expected to vote provisionally. Other delays, scanner problems and a host of other problems have been reported throughout the day. These were e-mails addressed to thousands of people who had changed their address or affiliation to the Motor Vehicle Administration, claiming that they would have to vote by provisional ballot. – which would be counted only on July 5th.
"It's too bad," said Sarah Landon, 57, who moved from Baltimore to Tilghman Island last year.
If you are having problems polling today, please let us know through this form. "
In addition to registering her new address, she changed her membership in an independent party in Democrat because she wanted to vote for a candidate against US representative Andy Harris, a Republican.
Landon, who is married to former Baltimore City solicitor, George Nilson, had received notice that she should vote on an interim basis, but was able to file a regular ballot. no show Tuesday morning.
"I still want proof that it was just a clerical mistake," Landon said. "When something like that happens at five o'clock the night before an election where we expect a high turnout, I have every right to be suspicious. . "
Gov. spokesman Larry Hogan said the problem was "clerical" and assured voters that every ballot would be counted.
MVA officials attributed the problem to a computer problem that began in April 2017, when new software was installed on the MVA website and in walk-in kiosks. The information submitted by those who logged in only to change the voting data was not forwarded to the Election Council, according to the MVA.
Of the. Maggie McIntosh, a Democrat representing Baltimore, said the legislature will hold hearings to investigate what went wrong. She thinks that cuts in staffing in state agencies may be to blame.
"I think if you summarize it, you'll come to: Nobody thought it was a priority," said McIntosh, greeting voters in a polling booth north of Baltimore.
Another elected, Tracey Frey, who lives in Baltimore County, said she had received a draft ballot even though she had not changed her address or party affiliation – through the MVA or any other way. Frey, 45, said that when she enrolled at Hereford High School on Tuesday morning, the receipt she received to hand over to the election officials indicated that she was not in school. she should receive a provisional ballot.
"We have been here for 10 years, and I still vote," said Frey, a director of higher education.
Frey said that she had already received a ballot that identified high school as her polling station, and poll workers confirmed her address and date of birth, so she does not know what caused the problem. She said she's left with the realization that elections can be "a fragile process" and that people need to make sure their votes count.
"I believe my vote will be counted," said Frey. "The preference is with the excitement of the day, you would like to be counted now."
Elsewhere, delays and problems with ballots were reported. A voter from the Elementary School of Medfield Heights in North Baltimore said that the ballot reader was not working.
Candidates and others jostled each other, in the field and on social media, to make sure that voters went to the proper polling station or could come back later in the day to vote.
Electors in the West Baltimore Bridgeview / Greenlawn neighborhood, who were ready to vote at Calverton's Friendship Preparatory Academy, were redirected to a school around the corner, despite the ballots sent in may.
Signs on the main doors of the school at 1100 Whitmore Ave. Voters were advised that the polling site had been transferred to nearby James Mosher Elementary School. But around 11 o'clock, there was no sign on the side doors, where voters entered the days of the past election. The Friendship Academy – formerly Calverton Elementary School / College – has been closed since early January, when cold weather caused plumbing and heating problems. Students were relocated to another building in February to complete the school year.
"There is obviously a gap between Baltimore's public school system and our Elections Council, and the community has not been informed," said Senate Representative Antonio Hayes. Hayes held a small press conference in front of the Preparatory Academy of Friendship Tuesday morning to encourage local residents to vote at the James Mosher Elementary School.
Several constituents of James Mosher, who voted for two constituencies, said they had not been informed of the change until Tuesday. They said the lack of communication about the move was particularly troubling given the large number of seniors living in the neighborhood.
"We have seniors who do not necessarily have cars, and that's how you treat them," said Pam Ranberg, a 68-year-old Democrat. "We've been bombarded all week with robotic calls to find out who to vote for, I think our dear mayor needs to take a minute to brag about what she's doing on Facebook and what's going on." to have sent a message so that the elderly people here have a better service.
Linwood Woody, a 65-year-old Democrat, said he had not been informed of the relocation of the polling station until he was ready to vote at the Preparatory Academy of Washington. 39; Friendship. People outside the building told him to go to primary school around the corner, he said.
"I'm really stunned," he said. "I think they should have people walking around the neighborhood and tell people where the polling station is for this general area."
By 11:30 am, 85 voters had voted between James Mosher's two constituencies. Hayes said the polling place in the last election attracted 300 to 400 voters.
Armstead Jones, Election Director for the Baltimore City Elections Council, said the Elections Office had begun receiving mouse and flea reports at Patapsco Elementary / Middle School in Cherry Hill around 1 pm Operation at Carter G. Woodson Elementary / Middle a little more than half a mile. There were two voters at the original site at the time, and they made their way to the new one, Jones said, and staff set up signs to direct voters later in Woodson.
There have also been reports of a broken machine at the Roosevelt Recreation Center in Hampden. Joseph Martorella said that no one had voted one hour after the opening of polling stations. Then, the officials said that the ballots could be placed in an "emergency kit" to be treated later, said Martorella, 40, who had one of her two children, a 5-year-old , waiting impatiently with him. The grocery store manager said that he had left his ballot there, but that he would have liked to see him enter the system before leaving.
"I trust election officials to treat him," he said, "but this is obviously not the ideal situation."
There was also at least one last-minute change in polling stations in Baltimore County: election officials said the Essex Co-op at 1100 Franklin Ave. was powerless, and voters should instead go to the gym at Eastern Technical High School, at 1100 Mace Ave.
Holly Mirabella, 28, said some election workers seemed unprepared at her polling station, Margaret Brent Elementary School, in the Baltimore Charles Village neighborhood. Mirabella, a lawyer, had moved out of Lauraville and said she had changed her address at the end of May to make sure she could vote in the primary. But on Monday, she received e-mail from state officials saying she was one of the 80,000 people who would have to vote provisionally because of the "computer glitch".
When Mirabella told the member that he was one of the voters who needed a provisional ballot, she said that he did not seem aware of the problem. After being sent to several scrutineers, she found herself at a separate table for the provisional electors, and was surprised to learn that she had to fill out a request for the ballot. As she filled it, Mirabella said, a poll worker told him that's why people should not make changes during an election year – even if in his case, it's not the same. was due to a move.
"I was afraid I could not vote," she said. "I was starting to be really worried because they seemed incompetent."
Mirabella said she wondered if other voters, who might have less fluency in English or not keep up with the news, might not have persisted and could have left their polling station without having voted.
"I'm really worried about others," she says. "I do not think you could call it a fair election."
The Elected Women's League of Maryland urged citizens to "not be discouraged" by the problem and to submit provisional ballots.
"The failure of the Motor Vehicle Administration to pass on to the Elections Council information on nearly 80,000 voters is a serious concern for the League of Elected Women," the group said in a statement. "The right of a citizen to vote is too important to be endangered by an administrative error.We are asking the Governor General and Maryland General Assembly to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter," he said. determine the causes and take the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.
"Of immediate importance is that voters are not deterred from voting because of this reported problem." Voters should take advantage of Maryland's interim voting system, which is a guarantee against potential errors in the data of the day. Voter registration, "said the group.
This story will be updated.
Baltimore Sun journalists Yvonne Wenger, Sarah Meehan, Liz Bowie and Jessica Anderson contributed to this article.
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