Unofficial results tallied in Crisfield election show close race

Polls closed at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday in Crisfield. Two city council seats are up for grabs in this year’s municipal elections.

One of those seats belonged to Mike Atkins, who announced he would not be running for re-election this year.

Laverne Johnson, an incumbent, is running again.

As of about 8:50 P.M., City Manager Rick Pollitt tells 47 ABC the votes are too close to call a winner for the second seat, as several discrepancies and absentee ballots have to be clarified and counted tomorrow.

Pollitt says 297 people turned out to vote. 15 ballots showed discrepancies which have to be taken into account tomorrow, 10 absentee ballots were distributed, and only 9 have been received so far.

Therefore, the 24-25 ballots must be accounted for to determine a winner for the second seat.

So far, we know that Laverne Johnson has secured 216 votes, Barbara Ward has 157, Karen Lawson has 150, and Irving Saltz has 18.

City officials will meet tomorrow at 2:00 P.M. at City Hall to review provisional and absentee ballots, and Pollitt says hopefully winners will be decided then.