Early mail-in ballot canvassing became an official mainstay in Maryland in 2024, helping elections officials to produce quick results in tight races on the night of the primary in contests for Baltimore mayor and U.S. Senate.
By Tuesday — the day of the primary — 146,840 mail-in ballots had already been counted across the state, data from the Maryland State Board of Elections showed.
That counting was made possible by legislation passed by state officials in 2023 to help local boards of elections more quickly process the increasing number of mail-in ballots.
For some races, that speed paid dividends.
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On the night of the primary, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks defeated U.S. Rep. David Trone, a multimillionaire who injected more than $60 million of his own money into his campaign to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin.
Her victory came after polls earlier in the campaign, including one conducted for The Baltimore Sun, University of Maryland and FOX45, showed Trone with an advantage. Instead, Alsobrooks took a 10% lead over Trone as returns came in Tuesday.
Primary night vote counts included returns from the state’s eight-day early voting period, primary day itself and mail-in ballots canvassed ahead of Tuesday. About 463,000 of the now 576,896 Democratic ballots tallied in the Senate race were processed by primary night, state data shows.
In Baltimore, a call in the mayoral race this year came considerably faster than it did in 2020 when Brandon Scott did not become the clear winner until a full week after the Democratic primary. Chief rival Sheila Dixon further extended the race that year, waiting an additional five days to concede.
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced the state to hold its first election mostly by mail. Just 3,913 voters cast ballots in person, leaving the city with 156,164 mail-in ballots to count — a process that took many days.
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This year, more than 32,500 voters cast mail-in ballots in Baltimore, about 95% of them from Democratic voters. Canvassing began in April and the Baltimore Board of Elections had 11,781 mail-in ballots counted by primary day.
Shawn Larson, a Baltimore Board of Elections information specialist, runs a ballot counting machine Thursday at the city Board of Elections warehouse. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
Scott opened up a sizable gap between himself and challenger Sheila Dixon on primary night — about 6,500 votes more than the former mayor. It was enough for The Associated Press to call the race at 11:24 p.m. Tuesday, and Scott declared victory minutes later.
Scott’s lead held Thursday as elections staff got to work counting many of the remaining mail-in ballots. With more than 14,800 new ballots tallied, Scott’s margin expanded to almost 8,900. Of the 79,159 votes counted in the race so far, about 80% were counted by primary night. At least 3,000 mail-in ballots have yet to be counted, and about 6,300 provisional ballots must still be considered.
Dixon conceded the mayoral race Friday.
Roger Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs, said the early jump election officials got on ballot counting and the unexpectedly large margins for some candidates contributed to earlier results this cycle.
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“It was always going to be a learning curve,” he said of Maryland’s implementation of widespread mail-in voting. “It feels like they’re getting better at it, and they’re going to get better at it each time.”
Hartley said most election watchers did not anticipate the U.S. Senate or mayoral race to be called primary night. But Scott opened a gap that Dixon was unlikely to close. She would have needed to win 60% to 70% of the remaining mail-in ballots, Hartley said.
“With Alsobrooks, it was like, wow, this is really over,” Hartley said. “But if it had been reasonably close, we would still be parked at the Board of Elections waiting for votes to come out.”
Some races, however, will always be too close to call on election night, Hartley cautioned. That was the case with several hotly contested races for the Baltimore City Council. Even after Thursday’s count, several remained undecided. Top candidates for the city’s District 11 in South Baltimore and District 8 in West Baltimore were separated by fewer than 150 votes.
Baltimore’s election board opted to pause ballot counting Friday and through the weekend. The process will resume Monday. Provisional ballots will be considered Wednesday.
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Samuel McAfee, warehouse manager for the Baltimore Board of Elections, consults with a colleague April 22, 2024, as elections officials began tabulating mail-in ballots for the Maryland primary. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
The 2024 primary marked the first year that elections officials were able to canvass mail-in votes ahead of Election Day on a nonemergency basis.
In 2020, when mail-in balloting was adopted in large numbers during the pandemic, then-Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order to allow local election boards to count on an emergency basis.
The Maryland General Assembly passed legislation in 2022 to make early canvassing a regular part of the election process beyond the pandemic. Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the bill, but some jurisdictions were able to start counting general election mail-in ballots before Election Day following a court ruling.
The bill was reintroduced and passed in 2023. Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, signed it into law, officially moving the start of the mail-in canvass across the state from two days after an election to up to eight days before the start of early voting.
Several local boards, including those in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Carroll and Harford counties began counting on the earliest possible day allowed under the new law.
As of Friday night, approximately 377,000 mail-in ballots were received of the more than 595,000 sent. Nearly 65% of received ballots have been counted, thus far.
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Requests for mail-in ballots during the 2022 election reached over 642,000 — the highest in state history. In an interview with The Sun earlier this month, Jared DeMarinis, Maryland’s elections administrator, said he anticipates requests for the general election in November will break that record.
A ballot drop-off box outside the Enoch Pratt Free Library on May 2, 2024, during early voting in Maryland. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)
Coming off its first loss of the season, No. 25 Illinois took the floor at its State Farm Center home in Champaign on Saturday with plenty of motivation against struggling Maryland Eastern Shore.
So even when the Illini showed up with something less than their sharpest weapons, they managed to hammer the Hawks with size, muscle and blunt-force effort in an 87-40 runaway win.
An excellent defensive performance helped stake Illinois (4-1) to an early lead against the Hawks (2-6), allowing the opportunity for more floor time for its non-starters, including freshman Morez Johnson Jr., who had career highs of 10 points and 13 rebounds in just 13 minutes. Freshman forward Will Riley led the Illini with 19 points off the bench – all in the second half – and junior guard Kylan Boswell continued his recent upswing with 13 points, four rebounds and another sinister defensive performance.
Never gave up on the play.@morezjohnsonjr with the rebound and putback!
After falling to No. 8 Alabama on a middling shooting night, Illinois came out clanking in the first half against the Hawks, “hitting” an atrocious 4-for-21 3-pointers (19.0 percent) before the break. But the Illini’s suffocating defense turned that blemish into an inconsequential blip.
Illinois held Maryland Eastern Shore to 7-for-33 field-goal shooting (21.2 percent) in the first half – including 1-for-12 from 3-point range – and forced 10 turnovers. The Hawks seemed to not know what hit them – and, as Mike Tyson might have noted, certainly had no plan after getting punched in the face. The Illini seemingly cut off every avenue on their opponents, who finished the first half with no assists.
After halftime, Riley was ablaze, pulling up for feathery jumpers and slinking to and around the rim for all-angles buckets that came easily for an 18-year-old in just his fifth college game. The outsized Illini annihilated the Hawks on the boards, 59-38, and held them to 22.1 percent field-goal shooting for the game.
No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball will be back in action on Sunday to host Saint Francis.
The Terps have enjoyed a week off after a dominating win over Towson last Sunday, 98-63, and will look for their first 6-0 start since the 2021-22 season.
“It’s been a week of practices for us to improve and get better,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “Able to really work on some things defensively and fine tuning things on the offensive end to get ourselves ready for Saint Francis.”
Sunday’s matchup will tip-off at 1 p.m. from Xfinity Center and stream on Big Ten Plus.
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Saint Francis Red Flash (1-5, 0-0 Northeast Conference)
2023-24 record: 5-25, 4-12 NEC
Head coach Keila Whittington is in her sixth season with the Red Flash and has only led her team to a winning record once. Saint Francis has an overall 46-102 record under Whittington.
Saint Francis earned its first win of the season on Wednesday night, when the Red Flash took down Robert Morris, 58-55, on the road. Saint Francis has suffered defeats to NJIT, Lafayette, Coppin State, Canisius and Loyola Maryland.
Players to watch
Yanessa Boyd, sophomore guard, 5-foot-9, No. 0 — Boyd is in her second season with the Red Flash and has solidified herself as a starter, leading the team in minutes. She also leads the team with 7.7 points per game. after finishing third last season with 7.1 points per game. Boyd is from Frederick, Maryland, and finished her high school career at Riverdale Baptist.
Ineivi Plata, freshman guard, 5-foot-3, No. 10 — Plata has started every game and is second on the team in minutes as freshman out of White Plains, New York. Plata is currently averaging 4.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.6 turnovers per game. She is 9-of-29 from the field and 2-of-16 from 3-point range this season. She scored a career-high nine points against Coppin State.
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Natalie Johnson, junior guard, 5-foot-8, No. 5 — Johnson is in her first season with Saint Francis after transferring from Robert Morris, who Johnson had 10 points against on Wednesday. She has only started one game this season, but averages 7.5 points per game, the second most for Saint Francis. Johnson averages 19.8 minutes per game and is a solid piece off the bench for the Red Flash.
Strength
Rebounding. The Red Flash have outrebounded their opponents this season, 194-188. As a team, Saint Francis averages 32.3 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the NEC, and is led by Marina Artero and Plata, who both average 4.0 rebounds.
Weakness
Turnovers. Saint Francis turns the ball over 21.7 times per game, leading to a -7.8 turnover margin for the Red Flash. Opponents average 19.7 points off turnovers and the Red Flash’s assist-to-turnover ratio is 0.5.
Three things to watch
1. A differential against Coppin State. The Red Flash fell to Coppin State, 74-38, on Nov. 12, while Maryland previously took down Coppin State on Nov. 7, 70-47. That is a 59-point margin between Maryland’s and Saint Francis’ performances against Coppin State. While anything can happen, the Terps should have no issues beating Saint Francis.
2. An easy stretch. After the Terps defeated then-No. 11 Duke and Syracuse, they have entered a three-week stretch against lower-level competition until its first Big Ten game on Dec. 7 against Purdue. Their final nonconference game of the regular season will be in the midst of Maryland’s conference schedule against No. 4 Texas in the Coretta Scott King Classic. The Terps will need to be conscious of keeping their foot on the pedal over the next two weeks before their schedule gets tough.
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3. Keeping pace. The Terps have three players averaging double-digit points in Kaylene Smikle, Shyanne Sellers and Christina Dalce, as well as two players who are averaging upward of seven rebounds per game in Dalce and Saylor Poffenbarger. Scoring and rebounding have been key parts of Maryland’s game thus far, and the Terps are in position to improve these averages Sunday.
“We just want to take where we’re at and continue to keep building and improving and getting better,” Frese said.
The Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks (1-5) will visit the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini (3-1) after losing five road games in a row. It begins at 4:00 PM ET on Saturday, November 23, 2024.
Illinois fell on the road to Alabama 100-87 last time out, and was led by Will Riley (18 PTS, 9 REB, 50 FG%, 3-4 from 3PT) and Kylan Boswell (17 PTS, 7 REB, 46.67 FG%).
Maryland-Eastern Shore fell on the road to Murray State 79-61 last time out, and were led by Ketron Shaw (24 PTS, 7 REB, 38.89 FG%) and Evan Johnson (23 PTS, 66.67 FG%, 3-5 from 3PT).
Ahead of this matchup, here is what you need to get ready for Saturday’s college basketball action.
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Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
Game day: Saturday, November 23, 2024
Game time: 4:00 PM ET
TV: B1G+
NCAA Basketball Odds and Betting Lines
Spread: Illinois -34.5
Total: 153.5
College basketball odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 2:00 AM ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
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