Voter turnout was lower during Montgomery County’s eight days of early voting for Tuesday’s primary election than it was in 2022, according to Maryland State Board of Elections data and local elections officials.
“There’s an interesting comparison between early voting for this primary and early voting for the [2022] gubernatorial primary,” Montgomery County Board of Elections President David Naimon said. “The gubernatorial primary had a hotly contested gubernatorial race and a hotly contested county executive race, among other races. While this election, a presidential race was largely over in both [political] parties.”
According to Maryland State Board of Elections data, 20,360 county voters had voted at an early voting center as of the end of early voting Thursday evening. Montgomery County is home to more than 680,000 eligible registered voters, according to the board.
Fourteen early voting centers were open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 2 through Thursday. Races on the ballot include those for U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, the Montgomery County Board of Education and judges for Montgomery County Circuit Court.
The voting sites at the Silver Spring Civic Building, the Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center, the Potomac Community Recreation Center and the Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center in Chevy Chase experienced the highest volume of voters throughout the week, according to unofficial county elections board data.
Thursday, the last day of early voting, saw the highest volume of voters in one day, with 4,140 total voters, according to local officials.
Naimon said he’s been asked whether low turnout means there should be fewer days, hours and sites for early voting. He said the dates and times and required by state law, but there are also other factors.
“You can’t generalize based on one type of election. We want to get through the presidential general election, and we have to assess,” Naimon said.
Naimon added that it remains to be seen whether voter turnout will be higher on Tuesday, the official primary election day.
While registered voters could vote at any early voting site, they can only cast ballots at their assigned precinct on Tuesday. You can find your polling place through the lookup tool on the Maryland State Board of Elections website.
Check out more on how to make a plan to vote here and find information on the candidates in the MoCo360 Voters Guide.
Registration to request a mail-in ballot closed Tuesday, and Friday is the last day to request an internet-delivered mail-in ballot that voters must print from their computers. The elections board started canvassing mail-in ballots on April 21.
If you applied for a mail-in ballot but decide you would rather vote early in-person, you will have to fill out a provisional ballot so officials can ensure you only voted once. Naimon suggested that as an alternative, you can fill out your mail-in ballot and turn it in at a drop-box at an early voting site if you don’t want to mail it.
