Voter turnout at next month’s presidential election could be as high as 90 percent at some Maryland precincts, according to elections officials who warned long lines will persist despite planning and precautions.
State election chief Linda Lamone said turnout could reach 85 percent statewide, surmounting the high of 81 percent in the 1992 presidential election. To speed lines, local election boards said they’ve hired more judges, rented more touch-screen voting machines and mailed sample ballots for voters to evaluate their choices before heading into the booth Nov. 4.
“We’re all geared up for it,” said Gail Carter, elections director in Carroll County. “A lot of it is voter education— people need to be patient. It’s a historic election on a number of fronts and we’re as prepared as best as can be.”
Lamone urged voters to make sure they are in the correct polling location before getting in line. Citing a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision, Lamone said nearly all provisional ballots submitted in incorrect precincts will be thrown out.
In Baltimore City, elections director Armstead Jones has launched project “Know Where I Vote” to spread the word. Jones said he worries 16 local ballot questions and two statewide initiatives in addition to the presidential, congressional and judicial races will compound high turn-out.
“We have 11 pages on our touch-screen ballot,” Jones said. “There are going to be long lines.”
To avoid lines, voters should arrive with a completed specimen ballot, and try to vote between 10 a.m and 4 p.m., said Ross Goldstein, the state’s deputy elections administrator. The state has increased the number of voting machines by 18 percent and electronic polls books by 33 percent, compared to a 9 percent increase in new registered voters, Goldstein said.
Harford elections director James Massey said he plans to deploy additional voting machines if lines are consistently 30 minutes or longer and has asked the local sheriff department to help with traffic control.
“We predicted this,” Massey said. “I talked to the county administration and told them this is going to be the largest number of voters we’ve ever handled. They understood and we were able to get the resources we needed.”
But some election watchdogs said no number of precautionary measures will prepare officials for Election Day turnout. Physicist William Edelstein said his study indicates lines in Maryland could be two hours or longer if voters take six minutes to cast their ballots.
Edelstein, a volunteer with Save Our Votes, a nonprofit group advocating the use of paper ballots when long lines form, said he believes elections officials aren’t deploying “extra” voting machines, but simply enough to meet a state law that requires about one machine per 190 voters.
“In the past, we’ve had examples of one-hour waits, two-hours waits or even longer, and folks left,” Edelstein said. “I just think this is going to be big trouble.”
To verify your voter registration status, visit www.mdelections.org/voter_registration/v2/vote_prod.php.
Examiner staff writer Len Lazarick contributed to this report.
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