News Flash

PRESS RELEASE
Mayor Gavin Buckley

Public Information Office

160 Duke of Gloucester Street

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:         
Media Contact: Mitchelle Stephenson, 410-972-7724 or mwstephenson@annapolis.gov

Annapolis Board of Supervisors of Elections 
Oversees Primary Election Vote Count

Includes Dropbox, Mail-in and In-person Ballots Received Through September 16

Annapolis, MD (September 22, 2021) – The City of Annapolis Board of Supervisors of Elections conducted the second of three vote counting operations on Wednesday morning at the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections office in Glen Burnie to determine the winners of the 2021 City of Annapolis Primary Election. 

Of the eight Annapolis aldermanic wards, only three races were contested in the primary, including Ward 3 where incumbent Democrat Rhonda Pindell Charles faced challenger Keanuú Smith-Brown; Ward 4 where incumbent Sheila Finlayson faced challenger Toni Strong Pratt; and Ward 8 where incumbent Ross Arnett faced challenger Kathleen (Kati) George. 

The vote counting is conducted across three reports and will conclude on Tuesday, September 28 with a final vote canvass. 

• The first report included 307 votes from Sept. 21 Primary Election Day in-person polling and was reviewed  after the polls closed at 8 p.m. on the same day. 

• The second report, and first canvass, included 414 votes from vote-by-mail and dropbox ballots and took place between 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 22 

• The third report, and final canvass, will include at least 876 remaining ballots received after Sept. 16, plus whatever additional ballots were mailed up to and including on Primary Election Day and will be conducted on Tuesday, Sept. 28.

The canvass results so far:

This is the first time that the City of Annapolis has conducted municipal elections (Primary and General) through a vote-by-mail process. Every registered voter eligible to cast a vote received a Primary Election ballot and all registered voters will receive a General Election ballot by mail. Completed ballots can be returned, postage paid, by the US Postal Service, or dropped in one of eight dropbox locations. In-person voting was an option on Primary Election Day (Sept. 21) and will be available on General Election Day (Nov. 2). 

The vote-by-mail process was expected to increase voter turnout. In this year’s primary, even without a mayoral race at the top of the ticket, turnout in the three wards with aldermanic challenges had higher turnout than in 2017. In those three wards, the total turnout in the three contested wards in 2017 was 1327. This year, the primary election turnout was, so far, 1605 ballots cast, with more ballots sure to be provided through the U.S. Postal Service before the final canvass next Tuesday. 

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