On Tuesday, Maryland will try something it’s never done before: conducting an election almost entirely by mail.
Ballots for the special election, which decides who fills the remainder of the term of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, are due Tuesday and will be accepted by unconventional means, namely the U.S. Postal Service and in drop boxes.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan made the abrupt move last month
to voting by mail in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The spread of COVID-19 has forced businesses across the state to close and residents to stay in their homes, leaving only for essential purposes.
In addition to picking a winner for the 7th District seat — Democrat Kweisi Mfume and Republican Kimberly Klacik are on the ballot — the election is a test of how well Maryland can pull off an election conducted via mail.
That’s important because in June, Maryland will repeat the process on a much bigger scale. Ballots will be mailed to more than 4 million voters statewide to allow them to participate in a primary that includes presidential and Baltimore mayoral candidates, while minimizing the spread of the virus.
How can I vote?
Ballots have been mailed to the approximately 500,000 voters in the district, which includes parts of the city of Baltimore and the counties of Howard and Baltimore.
State officials are encouraging voters to return their completed ballots using the postage-paid envelopes included with the ballot. Stamps are not required to mail the ballots, although the instructions
mistakenly mention that two stamps are needed.
Just make sure your ballot is postmarked by Tuesday and includes your signature to ensure it will be counted.
If you don’t feel comfortable mailing your ballot, you can use one of the drop boxes available in each jurisdiction. Starting Friday, drop boxes were placed outside the three local elections offices, and are available from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Election Day, drop boxes will also be available at three in-person voting centers. Ballots must be in the boxes by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
What if I don’t have a ballot?
The deadline to mail voters ballots has passed, but voters may still be able to get a ballot via email.
First, confirm you live in the district using the state’s
voter lookup tool. Don’t be surprised if you’re not; the district’s boundaries are all over the place.
If you live in the district and your address is correct in state records, call your local elections office as soon as possible to ask for a ballot via email. The process isn’t instantaneous. It could take half a day to get a ballot. Also, you’ll need to have access to a printer to print such a ballot. They cannot be returned online.
Who is running?
Democrat Kweisi Mfume and
Republian Kimberly Klacik are on the ballot.
Mfume, 71, is seeking to reclaim the House seat he left in 1996 to become president of the NAACP. The former Baltimore City Council member represented the 7th District for a decade and was chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
He calls himself “a progressive moderate,” saying he is “very, very progressive” on social issues, but “a little more moderate” on fiscal concerns.
Klacik, 38, founded a nonprofit group that helps disadvantaged women enter the workforce, and is a member of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee. She gained attention last summer after appearing on Fox News to discuss
videos she posted on social media showing trash and blight in the Baltimore City portion of the district, then represented by Cummings.
That got the attention of Republican President Donald Trump, who
attacked Cummings and the district on Twitter, calling Baltimore “disgusting” and “rat and rodent infested.”
When will we have results?
Don’t expect them right away. While the number of total ballots will be small compared with a statewide election, the counting process is different.
As completed ballots have arrived by mail, elections workers have stored them under the date they were received, “quarantining” the papers for at least 24 hours, said Nikki Charlson, deputy administrator for state elections.
Elections officials began counting ballots last week and will continue counting ballots as the documents emerge from quarantine.
At 8 p.m. on Election Day, elections officials will release the results of the ballots they’ve counted so far.
The ballots cast on Election Day at voting centers won’t be counted until the next day, she said. The same will be true for ballots placed in drop boxes on Election Day.
Additional results will be released at least daily after that point. It could take multiple days to count all ballots, depending on how many are received.
