BALTIMORE — More than 400,000 Marylanders requested and received a mail-in ballot;
Some of them received one with the wrong party affiliation listed. The state board of elections has now finalized rules for how those votes will be counted.
Republicans call for hearing as state finalizes counting on mail-in votes
Replacement ballots were sent to everyone who requested a mail-in ballot. One of the major decisions is to also allow the original ballots to be counted under certain conditions.
Jared DeMarinis, state administration of elections, said:
"As the state board, it was a collective policy decision to ensure that those voices are heard, in the counting," said DeMarinis.
The board established the following rules for counting ballots:
- If the party matches on the original ballot and it is the only one submitted, it will be counted.
- If both an original ballot and a replacement are submitted, the replacement will be counted.
- If someone submits their original ballot and votes via provisional ballot, the provisional will be counted.
- If a replacement ballot and a provisional ballot are both submitted, the first to be counted will hold.
When asked about safeguards to prevent someone from voting twice, DeMarinis said, "So there's all sorts of safeguards already in place. Just if you had requested a mail-in ballot and then attempted to vote in person, we had safeguards already in place for that. This is not a new phenomenon."
State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza and other Republicans are calling for a legislative oversight hearing on the issue. Carozza said, "it's our responsibility to make sure that the state board of election communicates the process."
"Right now with the multiple questions, the voter confusion, there's a sense of urgency to do this now, where right now early voting is starting tomorrow on June 11. We already have people who sent in their mail-in ballots," added Carozza.
Senate Republicans want the hearing held either before the June primary or before the vote is certified.
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