Tuesday is the last day to request a mail-in ballot via US Postal Service.
Frederick, Md (KM) Since early voting began last week, about 6500 people in Frederick County have cast their ballots as of Sunday night. That’s according Election Director Barbara Wagner.
Early voting began on Thursday, October 27th, and will continue until this coming Thursday, November 3rd. Poling places are located at the Trinity Recreation Center in Frederick, the Urbana and Thurmont Regional Libraries and the Myersville Town Hall.
Wagner says it’s been “a moderate turnout.” But there is a lot of interest in mail-in ballots. “We have almost 30,000 requests for mail-in ballots, and we’ve gotten 47% of those returned, and we expect a lot of more in the coming days,” she says.
Tuesday, November 1st is the last day for voters to request a mail-in ballot sent through the US Postal Service; and November 4th is the deadline to request a mail-in ballot by e-mail. If you request a mail-in ballot through e-mail,. Wagner says you can’t e-mail a completed ballot back to the County Election Office. “They down load it; they print it out; fill it in, and then they put it in a drop box,” she says.
In some parts of the country, there have been reports of intimidation and disturbances at polling centers. But Wagner says that hasn’t happened in Frederick County. “Electioneers have been very good. We’ve gotten a few complaints. But anytime we have offered our advice to the electioneers, they have taken it. And we haven’t had very much issue at all,” she says.
And security measures are in place for voters and poll workers. “We do a lot of security checks at various times during the day on our drop boxes and our vote sites through different entities,” says Wagner. “I can’t really discuss a lot of security things that we do, but it all is good. It all checks out.”
Election Day is November 8th
Wagner says the election won’t be certified until November 18th. “Our provisional canvas is November 16th. We make sure those provisional ballots are counted in the final certification numbers,” she says.
By Kevin McManus