As Maryland holds its primary election on Tuesday, Montgomery County has races for the Board of Education, Circuit Court judges and three seats in Congress.
Maryland’s primary had been scheduled for April 28, but was postponed to June 2 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The election is being conduct mostly by mail, but residents can vote in-person on Tuesday if they can’t vote by mail.
Tuesday’s races
There are three open seats on the Montgomery County Board of Education, including a race among 13 people for one at-large seat.
The school board race is nonpartisan, so anyone who is registered can vote, regardless of whether they are enrolled in a political party or are unaffiliated.
The people with the top two vote totals in Tuesday’s primary will advance to the general election on Nov. 3.
Information about the candidates is available in Bethesda Beat’s Voters Guide.
The school board seats in Districts 2 and 4 also are up for election this year.
Two candidates are running in District 2. There is no primary in that race; both will move ahead to the general election.
There are three candidates on the ballot in District 4, so voters will pick two for the general election. However, Ehren Park Reynolds has withdrawn from the race, even though his name remains on the ballot.
Four Montgomery County circuit court judge seats are on the ballot. Four sitting judges, running as a team, are facing competition from two challengers.
The same six candidates are on the ballot for both the Republican and Democratic primaries. The top four vote-getters in each primary will advance to the general election.
All three congressional districts that represent Montgomery County — Districts 3, 6 and 8 — have contested party primaries on both the Democrat and Republican sides. The winner in each primary will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Only voters who are registered with a party can vote in the party primaries.
The presidential race also is on the ballot, even though both parties have presumpive nominees.
Both political parties also are selecting their delegates and alternates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions.
How and where to vote
All registered voters in Maryland were mailed ballots, although many were delayed because of problems that the State Board of Elections says were the fault of a vendor in Minnesota hired to create and mail the ballots. Voters can mail their ballots back as long as they were postmarked on or before Tuesday.
Voters can also drop off their ballots at seven boxes throughout the county until 8 p.m. Tuesday. Those sites are:
- Montgomery County Board of Elections at 18753 N. Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg.
- Activity Center at Bohrer Park at 506 S. Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg.
- Germantown Community Recreation Center at 18905 Kingsview Road
- Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center at 14906 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville
- Rockville City Hall at 111 Maryland Ave.
- Silver Spring Civic Building at One Veterans Place
- Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center at 11701 Georgia Ave
Voters can also go to the polls in person on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at:
• Silver Spring Civic Building, One Veterans Place, Silver Spring
• Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center, 14906 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville
• Activity Center at Bohrer Park, 506 S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg
• Germantown Community Recreation Center, 18905 Kingsview Road, Germantown
The results
Results of the first batch of ballots will be released “shortly after 8 p.m.” on Tuesday, Nikki Charlson, the Maryland Board of Elections’ deputy administrator, told Bethesda Beat last week. Those will include all ballots that have been counted through Monday.
Charlson said that later on in the evening, the state will release results from in-person voting.
Gilberto Zelaya, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, wrote in an email to Bethesda Beat on Monday that the board has been canvassing mailed-in ballots since May 21.
“Partial results” for ballots canvassed so far will be released after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, he wrote.
At about 9:20 p.m., the county will start releasing results from voting on the day of the primary, with updates coming about every 25 minutes, Zelaya wrote.
Zelaya said the county will continue adding to the vote total each day after Tuesday until all ballots are counted.
All ballots must be received by 10 a.m. on June 12, which is the second Friday after the election. Charlson said Montgomery County sometimes continues to count ballots through the weekend because there are a lot of ballots. The results won’t be certified, she said, until the county is done counting ballots.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media