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Baltimore-area election directors report high turnout, no serious problems
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Baltimore-area election directors report high turnout, no serious problems

BALTIMORE — As Election Day approaches in the Baltimore area, local election officials say turnout was good and there were no serious problems.

Lines were visible in Baltimore County “because voter turnout was high… Turnout was steady,” said Ruie Lavoie, the county’s elections director. “We were able to quickly overcome the few obstacles we encountered.”

He said there are some absentee election judges and the county needs to find reinforcements.

Baltimore County, the largest jurisdiction in the region and the third largest in the state, has 243 voting precincts and about 5,000 people conducting elections, he said.

“Unfortunately, some of the poll workers were late or did not show up for work,” Lavoie said, noting that the same thing happened during the primary election.

Polling places had lines when they opened at 7 a.m., he said.

Armstead Jones, Baltimore City’s elections director, also said the city had “no serious problems, thankfully,” but there were “some hiccups.”

Regarding poll workers, he said there were 3,000, “so that’s enough for us.”

Other local counties (Anne Arundel, Harford, Carroll and Howard) also reported everything was going well as of noon.

“People are coming and it’s a great thing,” said Stephanie Taylor, Harford County’s elections director.

He said 24,079 people had voted in the district as of 11 a.m.

Anne Arundel County deputy chief Richard Siejack also said many voters showed up at the same time this morning.

“Participation is quite intense… This is actually a good thing. We are not afraid of long queues,” he said. “Everything is going smoothly.”

Anne Arundel County said more than 30,000 voters had reported as of noon.

Election directors in Carroll and Howard counties (Erin Perrone and Guy Mickley, respectively) likewise said there were no major problems.

“There are lines at some polling places, but nothing we didn’t anticipate,” Perrone said, adding that as of 11 a.m., 16,699 voters had checked in and all polling places opened on time.

“Right after the morning, it was pretty heavy,” Mickley told Howard.

This has slowed to a “steady trickle.”

Howard had 25,222 votes as of 11 a.m.