June 2nd Primary Election: What Maryland voters need to know
MARYLAND – The Maryland Primary Election is one week away but the voting experience is a little different this time around.
“Certainly with the COVID-19 additional procedures, we have more preparation to do,” says Anthony Gutierrez, the election director for Wicomico County Board of Elections.
Maryland election officials are hard at work already counting ballots that have come in and preparing a limited number of polling places for the upcoming June 2nd primary.
“Obviously it’s a smaller scale than they are used to. Making sure their poll workers are ready, the equipment is ready, everything is packed and ready to go out to those vote centers and be open for 7 AM,” says Nikki Charlson, the Deputy Administrator for Maryland State Board of Elections.
Under Governor Larry Hogan’s order, every resident is encouraged to vote by mail if possible and all voters registered as a republican or democrat should have received a ballot in the mail by now.
“They can either return it using a postage paid envelope they received or they can bring it to one of the drop off boxes,” says Gutierrez.
Officials say voters also need to remember to sign the oath on the back of the mail in ballots and the results on Election night will be announced a little differently, since ballots can be postmarked no later than June 2nd.
“The first set of results out at 8 o’clock will be vote by mail ballots that have been counted by local election officials. Later that night we will release results from in person voting,” says Charlson.
Since ballots can be post marked on Election Day, the process of counting all the mail in ballots will continue until at least June 12th. “It’s possible that we won’t know how many ballots are coming back on June 2nd so we won’t know what percentage of the returns we have,” says Charlson.
May 27th is also the last day to register to vote, change your address or party affiliation in Maryland. Just reach out to your local board of elections or state board of elections at 1-800-222-VOTE to do that or request a mail in ballot if you haven’t received one.
As for the November election, state officials do not believe that date will be changed but the mail in ballot system may be used instead of the traditional in person election.
Click here for information on the primary election in Maryland.
Click here for information on the primary election in Delaware.
Click here for information on the primary election in Virginia.
