Primary Voting Begins Today

For the first time the State of Maryland is implementing Early Voting for the Gubernatorial Primary Election. You can already vote in person for the primaries. You don’t have to wait until September 14th.

When I arrived at the polls at the County Executive Building, 101 Monroe Street in Rockville, at 9:45 AM this morning, two voters were already in line in front of me. Betty Hughes and Dorothy Kozikowski were seated and waiting. They are going away on a cruise next week to Newfoundland. Since they always vote in person, they were glad for this opportunity. They were “pretty definite” that they would not change their minds.

At exactly 10 AM Brigitta Mullican, who is volunteering at the Voting Center, announced that the polls were open and that there were seven people in line. Two more walked up as we filed into the room to vote. By the time I had finished the process, about 20 had voted. A steady stream of people arrived throughout the first hour.

Jerold S. Garson, President of the Board of Elections, was at the County Executive Building polling location. He and the other Board Members were at all the locations to make sure the Early Voting was off to a good start. They all are going to be on call 24 hours-a-day during the voting period. He explained that two years ago the voters in Maryland approved early voting. Every single county voted for it because people wanted more hours. He told me, “As you can see, people are voting! The people are here.”

Jane de Winter, who is running for a Montgomery County Council At Large seat, was in the first group to vote. “I have my vote in the bank! It’s great to be able to come in and vote. Now I can work on Election Day. It’s great to give people other options.”

If you are voting early at the County Executive Building, parking is free for one hour at the County garages on Rt. 28 and Monroe Street. After 10 AM, voters can also park in the Jury Lot at the same intersection. Although there are signs at the southernmost doors on Monroe Street directing you into the cafeteria, when you enter through these doors, there is no indication as to where you should go until you walk through the whole cafeteria and see a sign pointing up the stairs. The polling location is on the lobby level so it is best to use the main entrance by the circular drive.

Maureen Fong, a resident of Courthouse Square, explained, “I couldn’t find it. I know the area but wasn’t sure where to go. Thank goodness for the big sign”, then she added, “We did it!”

People are discussing whether there really were funds to publicize the early voting. Some stated there was no money in the budget while others believed it was co-mingled with the new voting system funds. Either way, the general consensus seems to be that money wasn’t spent on publicity to get people to the polls early. Many people passing by the County Executive Building weren’t aware of this new option.

One woman had not received her ballot in the mail and she knew they had been mailed in batches. State Delegate Jim Gilchrist explained the ballots already went out. When he was door knocking this week, people were aware of the election and had received their ballots. Since you can already vote, let’s hope so!.

If you are still researching the candidate, a helpful online Voter’s Guide is provided by The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Early Voting Centers will open from 10 AM until 8 PM, Friday, September 3 until Thursday, September 9, 2010 excluding Sunday. Voters will use the same voting equipment as on Election Day. All the lists for every district have been loaded into each machine so you can cast your early vote at any location. A poll worker confirms the proper ballot loads before you begin. Mr. Garson confirmed that all the voting machines have all been tested.

Early Voting Centers are located at:

Bauer Drive Community Recreation Center, 14625 Bauer Drive, Rockville 20853
Germantown Recreation Center, 18905 Kingsview Road, Germantown 20874
Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center, 14906 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville 20866
Montgomery County Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe Street, Rockville 20850
Silver Spring Civic Building, 8525 Fenton Street, Silver Spring 20910

During Early Voting hours, the Board of Election website will display a scroll bar giving the wait times at each of the five Centers, updated hourly. This is a cool feature to help make voting as quick and easy as possible.

You can still vote by Absentee Ballot until September 7th.
Last chance to vote is at your assigned Primary Election location on September 14th.

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