Wicomico Co. will continue to count thousands of ballots Thursday
WICOMICO CO., Md. – Wicomico County is just one place where ballots continue to be counted and that means official numbers in terms of voter turnout may change from current projections.
“Our results right now are unofficial for ten days which is a regular process in Maryland. We have ten days to certify the election on the local level,” says Anthony Gutierrez, the director of the Wicomico County Board of Elections.
Gutierrez says, as of Wednesday, they saw about a 60 percent voter turnout but that’s not the final number.
“Due to the pandemic, we had a tremendous number of mail in ballots cast so right now we have about 55-hundred or 5,500 mail in ballots ready for us to start canvassing again tomorrow morning. But we have a potential of 2,700 more that could come in by Friday November 13th,” says Gutierrez.
The county may surpass 70 percent voter turnout after all those votes are counted but that wouldn’t reach the historic high of 79.5 percent in 2008.
Many voters tell 47 ABC, they expected the 2020 Election results wouldn’t be in as quick as usual. “I kind of expected it would take at least another day maybe two,” says Stephen Mathis, a voter registered in Washington, D.C.
“My reaction is, it’s probably going to take a week or better and that’s fine as long as the votes are counted properly,” says Will Warren, a Wicomico County voter.
“As a new American citizen, the process for me has been very interesting. It seems to be a very slow process,” says Stephanie Nti, a first time Maryland voter.
But some say they’re still disappointed, adding they thought officials would’ve been better prepared to count early votes in a timely fashion. “I suspected we would but I was hopeful with all the early voting that had been taking place through out the country that it wouldn’t be so slow,” says Paul Armstrong, a voter registered in Washington, D.C.
Voters tell 47 ABC at this point the unofficial results show the country is deeply divided and they hope people focus on unity once everything is finalized. “What are we going to do as a nation. How do we pull together? How do we start to heal the wounds and come together like we should as one nation together,” says Warren.
Wicomico County election officials say all of the situations happening are normal, including waiting to count the rest of the ballots Thursday instead of continuing Wednesday. Of course, they do not usually have so many mail in or early votes cast.
