Montgomery County election officials begin counting mail-in ballots; Why results could take days to weeks

Voters await results in Montgomery County Executive race

Montgomery County election officials began the process of counting mail-in ballots on Thursday as voters await the results in the race for county executive. FOX 5's Tom Fitzgerald reports.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - It’s been two days since the Democratic primary for Montgomery County Executive and we still don’t know the winner as the slow work of counting the state's mail-in ballots got underway on Thursday.

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Challenger David Blair leads by a razor-thin margin over incumbent Marc Elrich, but officials warn it could likely take a week or more before we know the winner.

Montgomery County's Board of Elections is checking the ballots at Montgomery College. The group wrapped up their work for the first day of canvassing mail-in ballots at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Montgomery County Executive races remains too close to call

FOX 5's Tom Fitzgerald is breaking down the latest numbers in the Democratic primary race for Montgomery County Executive, which currently remains too close to call between David Blair and Marc Elrich.

FOX 5's Tom Fitzgerald reports that teams of Democrats and Republican poured over the mail-in ballots, making sure they are properly filled out and eligible to be counted.

"Making sure all of the corresponding parts are filled out, there’s no signature on the ballot, no coffee stains because when we sent them to be tabulated we want a smooth process seamless process," Dr. Gilberto Zeleya from the Board of Elections tells FOX 5.

In total, county officials say they have 34,000 mail-in ballots to get through. Mongtomery County's Board of Elections is expected to release an update on the counting Thursday night.

Now you may be wondering why the mail-in ballots are being first counted days after the election. The answer is because, by law, Maryland does not allow mail-in ballots to be counted until two days after the election.

Maryland primary election results could take several days, especially in tight races, officials say

Maryland's primary election is upon us, but don't expect to find out all the winners on Tuesday.

Mongtomery County State Senator Cheryl Kagan previously helped pass a bill that would have allowed the ballots to be counted earlier, but the bill was later vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan.

"Maryland is the only state in the nation that in law prohibits the counting of mail-in ballots until two days after polls close," said Kagan. "That has created a nightmare for our local boards and a lot of confusion for candidates and other activists. It really doesn't have to be like this. We must get this fixed for the November elections because there is so many people who’ve lost confidence in our elections systems."

The Board of Elections have a two-week calendar to complete the mail-in ballot counting, but they can also add more days to make sure the process is not rushed.