With the primary election looming early next week, mail-in ballots that have been received and counted in the Southern Maryland counties are surpassing the number of voters who have shown up in person during the first several days of early voting.
Data from the Maryland State Board of Elections shows that as of Wednesday with one more day of early voting remaining, 2,465 people, or about 3.5% of eligible voters in Calvert, voted early in person compared to over 5,000 mail-in ballots received. In Charles, just over 3,100 voters (2.5%) had cast early ballots while 6,736 mail-in ballots have been received, and in St. Mary’s County 3,430 (about 4.5%) have voted in person while 4,450 have mailed in their votes.
All three counties have three early voting sites.
Most Republican early voters are showing up at the polling sites, while far more Democrats have requested and returned mail-in ballots in each county.
In Calvert, 1,425 Republicans have cast ballots during early voting compared to 892 Democrats. As for mail-in ballots, Calvert election officials have received 2,774 from Democrats compared to 1,747 for Republicans.
St. Mary’s numbers by party affiliation show 2,255 Republicans have voted in person early while 1,657 have submitted their ballots via mail. For St. Mary’s Democrats, 1,030 had voted in person as of Wednesday while 2,419 ballots have been received by mail.
In Charles County, Democrats easily top Republicans in mail-in ballots received 5,031 to 1,300. For early voting, with one day remaining, Democrats cast 2,204 votes in person while Charles Republicans cast 845 in person.
Some sites used more than others
In Calvert County, one of the three early voting sites is new. Housed in a mobile home and located at Ward Farm Park in Dunkirk, the early voting site for the third election district has attracted the second highest number of early voters in the county, over 767 as of Wednesday.
“It’s doing very well,” Kristen Bell, executive administrative aide for Calvert’s election board, told Southern Maryland News earlier this week.
As expected, the centrally located Prince Frederick site for election District 2 is the top polling place for early voting, with over 1,098 ballots cast. The third location, Southern Community Center, had 600 ballots cast, as of Wednesday.
On Tuesday, May 14 — primary election day —17 polling locations will be open in Calvert from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. St. Mary’s has 28 sites while Charles will have 30 sites open on Tuesday.
St. Mary’s had three early voting sites, and similar to Calvert the central location — Hollywood firehouse — garnered far more votes than the other two at the Bay District and Mechanicsville firehouses.
Charles County’s early voting center at the Waldorf Jaycees drew far more voters than its other two sites at the fairgrounds in La Plata and St. Joseph’s Parish Center.
Eligible active voters
Calvert County has 23,431 registered Democrats and 27,980 registered Republicans, along with 17,367 other voters, the vast majority of whom are unaffiliated, according to the state elections board.
St. Mary’s County has 24,778 Democrats and 31,906 Republicans as well as 19,059 other voters, again with the vast majority registered as unaffiliated.
Charles County has 74,650 Democrats and 23,001 Republicans along with 25,787 other voters, with the vast majority being unaffiliated.
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