Marylanders swarm early voting sites

Thousands cast ballots for governor, congress and local offices

Against a fractious political backdrop, tens of thousands of Marylanders swarmed early voting sites Thursday, eager to take the first opportunity to cast their ballots.

“I’m voting for candidates who reflect the values I’d like to see: kindness, civility and respecting everyone,” said Julie Ayers, 54, of Timonium, who with her son and daughter were part of the largest turnout on the first day of early voting for a midterm election in Maryland. “I’m desperate to see a return to civility and civil discourse.”

After polls closed for the day, 88,578 Marylanders had cast their ballots in the first day of early voting, according to numbers provided by the Maryland Board of Elections.

Early voting has drawn huge numbers across the country this year as a highly motivated electorate seemingly can’t wait to officially register their views, one turnout expert said.

“It’s masses of people,” said Michael P. McDonald, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida.

“It’s like Black Friday,” he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this for a midterm election.”

By midday Thursday, more than 12.1 million Americans had already voted, said McDonald, whose United States Elections Project maintains voting statistics. While conventional wisdom says many of the early voters would have voted anyway, there’s something different going on this year, he said.

“There’s only one real explanation for this, and his name is Donald Trump,” McDonald said. “Love him or hate him, he has inflamed passions in this country, and when people are emotionally invested, they turnout to vote.”

The highest turnout on the first day of early voting in Maryland was in 2016, when123,623 voters cast ballots.

By early afternoon Thursday, one problem had been reported, but it was quickly resolved: Officials temporarily shut down voting at the Crofton Area Library after two suspicious packages were found in the parking lot, but later reopened the site.

The first day of early voting tends to draw among the largest crowds, although human nature being what it is, the last day gets the highest turnout. Polls are open each day from Thursday through Nov. 1, including Saturday and Sunday, between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The kickoff of early voting presents an opportunity for the hundreds of candidates on the ballot — including Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic challenger Ben Jealous — to bank the votes of their most ardent supporters.

As of Saturday, there were 3,954,027 eligible, active voters on the rolls for this election in Maryland — a number that is expected to grow throughout the period of early voting. That’s because voters can register during early voting and vote the same day.

Crossing party lines

At Mt. Pleasant church in Northeast Baltimore, the first 50 voters represented a mix of Hogan and Jealous supporters.

Alice Green, 64, and her husband, Gregory Green, 72, who live in East Baltimore, voted the straight Democratic ticket — except for governor.

“As far as Trump, can’t deal with him,” Alice Green said. “I voted for Hogan, but I’m a Democrat. I appreciate what he’s done for Maryland.” “I like him,” she said. “Because he can listen, and I trust him.”