Candidates Kevin Hornberger, Mike Griffith, and Bob Gatchel analyze the ballot envelops. All ballots are manually shown to the crowd to show that none of the ballots have been opened or tampered with.
The Cecil County Election Board prepares to count 2,500 mail-in ballots for the 2022 Maryland Gubernatorial Elections in the Elk Room of the Cecil County Administration Building on July 21, 2022.
(Right to left) Candidates Bob Gatchel, Mike Griffith and Kevin Hornberger speak with Cecil County Board of Elections President, Douglas Walker (left) on the ballot counting process and rules for viewing.
The seals on the ballot counting machines are verified to ensure the machines haven’t been tampered with prior to ballot counting.
Ballot counting machine seals are removed after being verified.
The box inside of the ballot counting machines is removed from the machine and showed to bystanders to prove the machines are empty.
Mail-in ballots are then removed from boxes in batches of 25 to be processed and counted.
Mail-in ballots are then removed from boxes in batches of 25 to be processed and counted.
Officials run the mail-in ballots through an envelop opening machine in pack of 25 at a time before they are sent to be looked over for by election board members to ensure the ballots can be read properly by the machine. The officials check that bubbles are filled in fully and not checked and that the ballots themselves are not ripped or stained.
Election officials ensure the ballots are ready to be scanned by the ballot counting machine. Any ballot that has the potential to be misread is sent to a review team for further analysis before proceeding.
Ballots are manually loaded into ballot counting machines as attendees watch to ensure that the process is fair and equal.
Election officials overlook a ballot because it was not read by the machine. Election officials later concluded that the ballot needed a re-fill where the marking on the ballot is darkened by an official to ensure the machine can read the results.
One of two of the ballot counting machines used to scan and report maill-in ballots.
An election officals loads ballots into “Scanner 2.”
Candidates Kevin Hornberger, Mike Griffith, and Bob Gatchel analyze the ballot envelops. All ballots are manually shown to the crowd to show that none of the ballots have been opened or tampered with.
The Cecil County Election Board prepares to count 2,500 mail-in ballots for the 2022 Maryland Gubernatorial Elections in the Elk Room of the Cecil County Administration Building on July 21, 2022.
(Right to left) Candidates Bob Gatchel, Mike Griffith and Kevin Hornberger speak with Cecil County Board of Elections President, Douglas Walker (left) on the ballot counting process and rules for viewing.
The seals on the ballot counting machines are verified to ensure the machines haven’t been tampered with prior to ballot counting.
Ballot counting machine seals are removed after being verified.
The box inside of the ballot counting machines is removed from the machine and showed to bystanders to prove the machines are empty.
Mail-in ballots are then removed from boxes in batches of 25 to be processed and counted.
Mail-in ballots are then removed from boxes in batches of 25 to be processed and counted.
Officials run the mail-in ballots through an envelop opening machine in pack of 25 at a time before they are sent to be looked over for by election board members to ensure the ballots can be read properly by the machine. The officials check that bubbles are filled in fully and not checked and that the ballots themselves are not ripped or stained.
Election officials ensure the ballots are ready to be scanned by the ballot counting machine. Any ballot that has the potential to be misread is sent to a review team for further analysis before proceeding.
Ballots are manually loaded into ballot counting machines as attendees watch to ensure that the process is fair and equal.
Election officials overlook a ballot because it was not read by the machine. Election officials later concluded that the ballot needed a re-fill where the marking on the ballot is darkened by an official to ensure the machine can read the results.
One of two of the ballot counting machines used to scan and report maill-in ballots.
An election officals loads ballots into “Scanner 2.”
CECIL COUNTY — Three days after Election Day, most races remain too close to call as election officials continue to count thousands of mail-in ballots.
On Thursday, July 21, officials began counting absentee ballots at 10:00am in the Elk Room of the Cecil County Administration Building. Dozens of election officials and volunteers began the process by manually verifying the two ballot counting machines. Officials verified that the seals on the machines were still in contact and the machine had not been tampered with before arriving on location.
Once the seals were verified, the data on the machines was printed out and posted for the public to view. Then, the blue ballot collection bin inside of the machine was removed and shown to everyone in the room to show that the bin was empty.
After the machines were verified, officials began to open the 2,500 ballots they planned to count that day. The ballots were still in envelopes and banded together 25 at a time to ensure that if any errors occurred, officials would only need to back-count by 25 ballots rather than hundreds or even thousands.
Candidates Kevin Hornberger, Bob Gatchel and Mike Griffith attended the mail-in canvas event with eyes focused on the condition of the ballot envelopes to ensure they were all sealed and not tampered with before being run through the machine. Officials would take out envelopes stack by stack and manually show them to observers to prove that the ballots were all in good standing before moving to the next step. Envelopes that were torn, opened or questionable were placed to the side for further investigation.
Envelopes were then opened by an envelope opening machine and sent to officials to be reviewed to ensure that all ballots were filled out properly and able to be read by the machine. If a ballot was found to have a flaw, it was sent to a review committee for further observation. Light markings on ballots, checks or X marks in place of filled in, dark bubbles, or rips in the ballot were some of the reasons ballots would be set aside for further review.
When ballots were analyzed, opened, analyzed again, and verified as being machine ready, they would be set into a blue bin in the middle of the floor labeled “Ballots To Be Scanned,” for one of the two machine operators to pick up, run through the ballot counting machine, and then place into boxed labeled “Scanned Ballots.”
With approximately 1,200 votes remaining to be counted, several local races remain too close to call by the State Board of Elections.
In the District 3 County Council race, Bob Gatchel narrowly leads incumbent Al Miller by a margin of only five votes – 3,601 to 3,596.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” said Gatchel. “But I have full confidence in the voters of the county because of the momentum and support they have given me so far.”
Al Miller shares similar confidence with Gatchel.
“I am a farmer by trade so I am an eternal optimist,” said Miller. “So we will be alright, there is nothing to worry about.”
Incumbent Kevin Hornberger leads challenger Adam Streight by 43 votes, 38.46% to 37.27% in the District 35B House of Delegates race. Travis Marion trails the two frontrunners with 24.27% of the vote.
“I am very confident,” said Hornberger. “I went over to the mail-in ballot canvas and from what I could see, I am confident I can continue my lead.”
Streight said he is pleased with the number of votes he has received, thus far, to create this election cliffhanger.
“I am certainly humbled by it,” Streight said. “I believe we showed the people who we are, what we’re about and what we will do for our constituents.”
He added, “There’s nothing left to do, except hurry up and wait. Obviously, we are hopeful that we will prevail. We await the will of the people.”
In the District 2 Council race, Rebecca Hamilton holds a 52.81% to 47.19% lead over incumbent Councilman Bill Coutz. Councilwoman Donna Culberson maintains a 54.10%–45.90% advantage over Donald Gividen, Jr. in the District 4 Council race.
Renee Dixon holds a commanding 51.21% lead in the District 4 Board of Education election compared to incumbent William Malesh’s 27.20% and Anthony Di Pietro, II’s 21.09%. The top two candidates in the primary election will advance to run against each other in the November general election, alongside the District 3 and 5 races.
Incumbent Lyn Nickle leads challenger Maureen Sentman Danos 68.67% to 31.33% in the Register of Wills race.
In the race for Sheriff, Bilton Morgan conceded the election Tuesday night to incumbent Sheriff Scott Adams, despite the outstanding mail-in ballots. Adams leads Morgan with 76.60% of the vote.
Between early and election day voting, there were 10,476 ballots cast, representing a 14.95% turnout of the county’s 70,023 registered voters. This marks a 4% drop in voter turnout from the 2018 midterm, despite over 1,000 more total ballots being cast. According to Cecil County Election Director Douglas Walker, approximately 1,200 provisional and mail-in ballots remain to be counted next week — although he noted that number may change if more mail-in ballots (postmarked before July 19) are received in the intervening days.
As of press time on Thursday, the State Board of Elections had not released the updated voting totals after the first round of mail-in and provisional ballot counting. Stay tuned to cecildaily.com for updates on local races.
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