Watch CBS News

Maryland Sees Just Under 55 Percent Voter Turnout In Midterms

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A rainy election day didn't stop voters from heading to the polls. Maryland saw an increase in voter turnout, with Baltimore City seeing a solid spike.

Maryland all together was just under 55 percent turnout. Tuesday night, Maryland Board of Elections waited hours until after polls closed to release results because hundreds of people had not yet voted.

"I was determined and I wasn't going to let anyone stop me from voting tonight," one voter said.

Even Mother Nature couldn't rain on the Election Day parade, with hundreds of thousands of voters packing the polls.

"Very encouraged by the turnout, even though it's raining, people are coming out," another voter said.

The unofficial numbers for turnout in Maryland show 2.1 million votes cast- topping 54 percent. While Baltimore City trailed the rest of the state with 44 percent voter turnout, the city was still up from 2014.

"It says several things, maybe people are tired and frustrated in what they see, maybe people want to see a change," said Armstead Jones, election director for Baltimore City.

Baltimore City Board of Elections calls Tuesday a win.

"I think we were able to draw a lot of younger people, millennials out there to polls," Jones said.

He said training plays a major part in Tuesday's success, but he also attributed it to possibly more dedicated people coming out.

Prince George's County might have dealt with the biggest problems- running out of ballots at one polling location.

"You knew this was an important election, you should've had extra ballots here," a Prince George's County voter said.

Turnout overall among registered voters ended up being a modest increase for every county in the state.

Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.