Anyone who stayed up late into the early morning to follow the general election results last week likely noticed how long it was taking the Montgomery Board of Elections to post results from the election.
As results poured in from counties around the state, the Montgomery precinct results ticked up slowly—leaving many election watchers from press to professors to wonder if the Democrat-heavy county could pull Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown back into contention with Republican Larry Hogan. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but the slow returns from Montgomery may have slightly delayed Brown’s concession.
Montgomery County is the only hope for Lt Gov Anthony Brown at this point; he trails 54-45%
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) November 5, 2014
The Montgomery Gazette reported Monday the county was the slowest in the state to report its results, despite having less precincts than Baltimore City and Prince George’s County. Marjorie Roher, a spokeswoman for the county’s Board of Elections, told the paper it’s typical for the final tally for the county–the largest jurisdiction in the state by population–to come in around 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m.
In this year’s election, the results didn’t come in until about 2:30 a.m.
Election officials are scheduled to discuss issues from the general election—including vote counting—at a board meeting on Nov. 17 at 2:30 p.m.
