Baltimore City Election Director Gene Raynor resigned Wednesday because of last week?s “primary disaster.”
City officials termed the election a disaster, because polling centers in Baltimore City opened three hours late, election judges failed to show or arrived late, and complaints were made over a lack of training in the use of the new electronic voting machines.
Baltimore City Council President Sheila Dixon called an emergency hearing at council chambers Tuesday and asked Raynor, who administers Baltimore City elections, to explain to the City Council what went wrong.
During the hearing, council members grilled Raynor for nearly two hours.
City Council Member Robert Curran said Raynor did not adequately address the council?s concerns.
“He was poorly prepared for the questions we asked last night,” he said.
“He even gave himself a grade of D when he was asked to appraise his own performance. I thought that was very frank of him to say that.”
Curran said some of the problems with Baltimore City?s election were technical, including a 2 1/2 minute time limit for electronic voting, after which a ballot would be rejected.
However, he said he?s focusing on the next election.
“I?m hoping that they can pull things together. It?s going to be a Herculean task,” he said.
