While early voting numbers may have been down in many jurisdictions across the state of Maryland, Carroll County set an all time high number of early votes cast in a Primary.
The total (official) votes cast during early voting in the 2022 Primary in Carroll County was 6,394 (per the Maryland State Board of Elections). Early votes cast in previous Primaries:
- 2020: n/a due to COVID-19
- 2018: 4,925
- 2016: 5,623
- 2014: 4,395
- 2012: 1,894 (only 6 days of early voting)
- 2010: 1,770 (only 6 days of early voting)
Here is a day by day chart by year for Carroll County:
Looking at Early Voting numbers as a percent of the eligible voters (with comparisons vs neighboring Howard County and statewide):
Carroll County: 5.03% of eligible voters voted early (6,394 votes of 127,032 registered voters)
Howard County: 4.59% of eligible voters voted early (10,471 votes of 228,019 registered voters)
State of Maryland: 4.53% of eligible voters voted early (172,364 votes of 3,778,905 registered voters)
Obviously Mail-in voting will also play a significant role in the 2022 Primary. As of July 14th here are the mail-in ballot numbers sent and returned for Carroll County, Howard County and statewide:
Carroll County:
- Sent: 13,886
- Returned: 6,040
- % Returned: 43.50% of sent ballots returned and 4.75% of eligible voters voted by mail so far.
Howard County:
- Sent: 31,503
- Returned: 10,812
- % Returned: 34.32% of sent ballots returned and 4.74% of eligible voters voted by mail so far.
State of Maryland:
- Sent: 495,490
- Returned: 165,102
- % Returned: 33.32% of sent ballots returned and 4.56% of eligible voters voted by mail so far.
If you look at the data above as total votes cast to date (Early Voting + Mail-In Voting) and percentage of the eligible voters that have cast votes to date:
Carroll County: 127,032 registered voters (as of July 6th)
- Total Votes to Date: 12,434
- % of Eligible Voters: 9.79%
Howard County: 228,019 registered voters (as of July 6th)
- Total Votes to Date: 21,283
- % of Eligible Voters: 9.33%
State of Maryland: 3,778,905 registered voters (as of July 6th)
- Total Votes to Date: 337,466
- % of Eligible Voters: 8.93%
Of note: All of this data can be found in the tabs here: https://www.elections.maryland.gov/press_room/index.html
Mail-in votes will continue to come into the local Board of Election centers and The Observer will continue to track those numbers and post updates to the social media accounts for The Observer. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
The 2022 Primary Election will happen on July 19th. Not sure where to vote on the 19th, check out the Voter Registration and Polling Place Look-Up: https://elections.maryland.gov/voting/where.html
As a reminder many races may not be decided on the evening of July 19th (because of mail-in voting). Here is the election schedule in Carroll County
Election Schedule:
July 19th: Primary Election Day
We should get the Early Voting and Primary Election vote counts that evening after the polls close.
July 21st: Mail-in Ballot Canvass 1
This will be the first count of mail-in ballots
July 27th: Provisional Ballot Canvass
Count of provisional votes cast
July 29th: Mail-in Canvass 2
This will be the final scheduled vote count of mail-in ballots
Expect really close races to not be decided until that final mail-in ballot canvass to be completed.
Want more information on local candidates. Be sure to view the Carroll County Observer 2022 Voter Guides:
