Baltimore Co. Exec. Race Heats Up As Absentee Ballots Are Counted
BALTIMORE CO., Md. (WJZ) -- The Baltimore County Board of Election is beginning to count 1,600 provisional ballots with the race for Baltimore County executive on the Democratic side still very much up in the air.
Johnny Olszewski holds a 42-vote lead over state Sen. Jim Brochin. The board will count the Republican provisional ballots first.
"After that, we will be adjourning and then begin the review process of the Democratic ballots," said Andrew Bailey, attorney for the Baltimore County Board of Elections.
Brochin said he remains hopeful.
"The question is, how close? If it's within 10 votes, it triggers an automatic recount and we're at 42 now. Our trending shows us we're going to continue to do well in absentees, and provisionals are a big jump ball," Brochin said.
Tucker Cavanagh, campaign manager for Olszewski, applauds the work of the county board of elections.
"They've been really diligent to make sure every vote is counted. It's been transparent and accessible. Democracy is important and it's important to make sure every vote is counted," Cavanagh said.
Besides the review of the provisional ballots, hundreds more absentee ballots are still to be counted.
"Those are ballots that might have come in the mail. As long as they're postmarked by election day, they'll get counted in the absentee two batch that's set for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. We have roughly 900 of those."
The third contender in the Democratic race for county executive, Vicki Almond, is still about 1,000 votes behind. The winner will face off against Republican Al Redmer in November.
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