Mail-in votes for Thiru Vignarajah will still be counted, Maryland State Board of Elections says

Votes cast by mail for Thiru Vignarajah in the Baltimore City mayoral primary election cannot be changed following his withdrawal from the race, the Maryland State Board of Elections said Saturday.

Vignarajah dropped out of the Democratic field for mayor last week, less than 24 hours before early voting began and weeks after mail-in ballots began to circulate. Vignarajah endorsed Sheila Dixon in her bid to unseat incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott. The deadline to formally withdraw from the race passed in February, so Vignarajah’s name will remain on all ballots.

More than 17,200 Baltimore voters had already cast their mail-in ballots in the race by the time Vignarajah withdrew, according to state records.

The board said in a news release that under state law, voters may cast only one ballot each, so anyone who already mailed, delivered or dropped off a vote for Vignarajah cannot request nor cast another ballot. Any requests for a second ballot will be denied, and any provisional ballots cast during early voting or Election Day will not be counted, the board said.

Jared DeMarinis, Maryland’s elections administrator, said the board anticipated questions from Vignarajah’s voters and issued the guidance preemptively. The state will count the first “legally” cast ballot from each voter, he said. A ballot is considered legally cast once it has been mailed, delivered or dropped off.

“Voters can’t cast a ballot early and subsequently change their minds later,” DeMarinis said.

Vignarajah’s exit from the race has raised questions about where his remaining supporters will go with their votes. A poll from April conducted by The Baltimore Sun, the University of Baltimore and FOX45 showed a tight race. Scott had support from 38% of likely primary voters, while Dixon had 35% — a difference within the poll’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.3 percentage points. Ten percent of voters in the poll said they would support Vignarajah, a base large enough to sway the race if his supporters definitively choose a particular candidate.

The poll suggests likely Vignarajah voters favor Dixon — 48% of his supporters said Dixon was their second choice, while 19% said Scott. Election observers have warned, however, that Vignarajah supporters may scatter.

Voters who have marked a mail-in ballot but not mailed it may request a new mail-in ballot online at Elections.Maryland.Gov, and the deadline for the board to receive a request for another ballot is May 10. Past that deadline, voters can go to their local Board of Elections for another ballot. Election Day for the primary is May 14.