Maryland primary election results will be delayed due to mail-in ballot counting

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — Elections officials say it may take several days or weeks to know the final results of primary election day.

Maryland is the only state in the country that forbids processing mail-in ballots until two days after election day. A bill Senator Kagan proposed would have allowed mail-in ballots to begin being counted eight days before the start of early voting, but Governor Hogan vetoed it. As a result, we have to wait until Thursday for the nearly 500 thousand mail-in ballots requested to be processed.

“Unless it’s a landslide election or someone who’s uncontested, we really can’t have confidence that the Tuesday night results are those that we should be counting on,” said Sen. Kagan. “I think it’s pandering to the right wing of his party, the people who make accusations about fraud and stealing the election.”

Montgomery County– Maryland’s largest jurisdiction with the highest number of ballots in the state, aims to certify the results by August 12th. However, council Vice President Evan Glass worries the delay will just reinforce claims of election fraud and cause voters to lose trust in the electoral process.

“The people who make accusations about fraud and stealing the election, it starts creating some unease and people start questioning what is happening, and that is I ear the situation that Governor Hogan has created here,” said Glass.

The results released Tuesday night will only be those who voted in person, whether early or on election day. If you have a mail-in ballot, it’s not too late, but it must be received at a drop-off box by 8 p.m. Tuesday or postmarked by then.