Planning to do early voting in the Maryland primary election? What you need to know

With early voting slated to begin Thursday, Washington County Board of Elections officials say they're planning for a big turnout at the polls.

Historically, gubernatorial primary elections typically see more than 20% of registered voters going to the polls, according to Barry Jackson, deputy director of the county election board. However, the election board has already received 8,000 requested mail-in ballots.

"That's, theoretically, 8,000 people that aren't going to show up at the polling place," Jackson told The Herald-Mail in a telephone interview. "That should relieve some pressure on Election Day at the polling places."

However, Jackson added the county election board is still planning for the unexpected.

"If we don't have (a big turnout), then we don't have it," he said. "At least, if we do, we're ready for it."

In a previous report, Jackson said the election board still needed election judges, falling about 100 short to comfortably run the county's 49 election sites.

In a recent interview, Jackson said the election board was about 60 to 70 election judges short now and that there is no time to train any more. The board held its final training sessions on June 30 and July 1.

Where do I go to vote during early voting in Washington County?

Early voting will take place at two sites, the Fletcher branch of Washington County Free Library in downtown Hagerstown and the county election board headquarters on Virginia Avenue in Halfway.

Early voting will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. from July 7 to 14, including during the weekend. Primary election day is July 19, and voters will be required to go to their polling place.

The library at 100 S Potomac St. has parking behind the facility that is accessible from Baltimore Street and from the alley behind the library. While the lot is gate-controlled on a normal business day, the gate will be up for the entire week of early voting, according to Jackson. There is also street parking near the library.

The county election board headquarters, a former Food Lion grocery store, has a parking lot in front of it.

Both locations are on public transportation routes.

As of June 30, the county election board website showed 31,454 registered Democrats and 43,724 registered Republicans.

Just over 23,000 voters are either unaffiliated or registered with other political parties. These voters will not have a ballot during the primary due to Maryland having a closed primary, which allows only those registered as Democrats or Republicans to vote, and to only cast ballots for candidates in their own parties.

Every voter in the county will be able to vote during the General Election in November.

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County voters will pick which Democratic and Republican candidates running for county commissioner, treasurer, state's attorney, clerk of the circuit court, register of wills, judges of the Orphan's Court, sheriff, and party offices will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

They will also determine those candidates running for certain statewide and federal races will be on the fall ballot, too, including governor, comptroller and state attorney general; state delegates and senators; and U.S. representatives and senator.

In some instances, including county state's attorney, clerk of the circuit court and register of wills, plus a few state delegates, the races are uncontested. That means the candidate automatically moves on to the general election.

While seats are up for election on the Washington County Board of Education, not enough candidates filed, meaning all of them will appear on the November ballot. That race is nonpartisan.

Election officials more in the spotlight amid voter fraud claims

Jackson said that elections and elections officials have been on people's minds recently, thanks in part to the 2020 Presidential Election. Then-President Donald Trump and his supporters have made unproven claims of widespread voter fraud after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

"In the old days, people didn't even know there was such a thing as an election official," Jackson said. "They just thought that the voting equipment just magically showed up at polling places. But now, election officials are in the news every day. It seems like ... not usually for a good reason."

In a previous report on May 22 — during the Pennsylvania primary election — a 66-year-old Democrat in Franklin County was given a Republican ballot instead of one for her party. Like Maryland, Pennsylvania is one of nine states that holds closed primaries.

Election officials attributed the mistake to human error and added that a lot of poll workers were older.

Jackson said there will be security measures in place to ensure voters get the correct ballot in Washington County.

When a voter checks in, a voter authority card is printed out indicated the ballot style — Republican or Democrat — the voter is authorized to get. The voter will have to take the card to the ballot distribution table, where an election judge will give the correct ballot to the voter.

At the ballot distribution table, there will be two election judges — one Democrat and one Republican. If one is missing, an unaffiliated voter will take their place, according to Jackson.

"There's always going to be somebody of opposite parties," Jackson said. "And they're both going to verify that voter got the correct ballot."

Jackson added that, with more recent elections have been politically charged and the increasing fear of voter fraud, he didn't know what to expect as far as voter turnout.

Following Trump's baseless accusations of voter fraud, election officials in localities across the country reported an unprecedented wave of threats and intimidation, according to USA Today.

However, Jackson told The Herald-Mail in an email that to his knowledge, no election official in Washington County has received any threats or been made to feel unsafe.

"We have, as always, had our share of angry voters to deal with," Jackson said. "But we are usually able to satisfy them, and it doesn't usually escalate any further."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County ready for early voting in the Maryland primary