With just three days left in early voting (June 11-18), Randallstown Community Center continues to draw the largest turnout in Baltimore County and outpace most of the other voting sites across the state. Early numbers from poll volunteers indicate June 16 will end with a strong showing, and observers expect turnout to greatly improve on the last day of early voting.
As of June 15 — Day 5 of the eight-day period — more than 2,149 registered voters had cast their ballots at the Randallstown location, including nearly 600 on the first day. Those numbers do not include people who are placing their mail-in ballots into drop boxes.
Voting was strong during the first two days, even as temperatures climbed into the 90s. However, participation dropped sharply over the weekend, falling by about half at several locations, including the Arbutus, Randallstown and Woodlawn community centers, the Board of Elections headquarters in Owings Mills, and the Reisterstown Hannah More Center. Voters who trickled in were met with a rush of volunteers and candidates anxious to deliver their elevator speech and hand them literature.
By Monday, turnout at the start of the workweek rebounded, matching or slightly exceedingly first-day totals. On the east side, Monday marked the busiest day so far, with Honeygo Community Center in White Marsh recording its highest turnout to date on June 15.
Observers offered mixed views on whether the weather played a role in the fluctuations. Ruie Lavoie, Baltimore County Elections Director, said turnout has been “surprisingly low” during the first half of the early voting period, but added she’s hopeful.
“I expected a higher turnout, but I know that today [June 15] has picked up,” Lavoie said. “I really don’t have a good explanation because we have a lot of candidates and a lot of races with no incumbent.
She added that the hot weather and the fact that Baltimore County doesn’t have a ballot for unaffiliated voters may explain the weekend dip in early voting. Still, Lavoie said, the county’s turnout is on pace with or higher than other large jurisdictions, like Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
There is a positive. “We’re starting to get a lot of mail-in ballots back,” Lavoie said. Some voters are returning the original ballot that were mailed in error, but the elections staff is reaching to those voters via email and post cards to encourage them to return the replacement ballot.
“We’ve also had some voters decide to come vote in person so we’re allowing them to do that because they want to make sure they’re voting the right ballot,” Lavoie said.
More than 12,250 voters cast ballots countywide between June 11-15, according to data from the Maryland State Board of Elections. Of those, 2,149 voted at the Randallstown site during that same period, making it among the top three busiest statewide.
When the number of early voters is sorted by legislative district, District 10 — which spans Reisterstown to Halethorpe and incorporates four councilmanic districts — had 2,546 voters. (See chart).
To date, Montgomery County has recorded the highest turnout (among the state’s 24 jurisdictions), followed by Baltimore County, Prince George’s County, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County. Baltimore County, the state’s third-largest jurisdiction has 444,288 registered voters.
As the final days of early voting approach, observers expect participation to increase. Several high-profile races feature west side candidates, including competitive contests for county executive and county council seats.
Early voting runs through June 18 at 8 p.m. Primary Election Day is June 23, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters must go to their assigned polling place.
This report will be updated as additional turnout data becomes available.