For Immediate Release:  April 14, 2016

Absentee and Provisional Ballots Counted Following Election

The Montgomery County Board of Elections wishes to remind voters that the unofficial results released on the Board’s website on election night contain only those votes cast during Early Voting and in the polling place on Election Day. Ballots cast by mail in Maryland shall be postmarked no later than Election Day or delivered to the Board of Elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day. 

Election officials must review the returned envelopes containing voted ballots, and verify the voter registration for voters who cast a provisional ballot, such as for voters who did not go to their assigned polling place on Election Day, prior to the ballot being counted.

The absentee and provisional ballots are counted in a public process by bipartisan teams of voters during the weeks following the election. Results for each of these ballot-counting sessions, referred to as the “canvasses”, are then added to the Election Day totals before the official results of the election are certified. The canvasses, which are open to the public, begin at 10 a.m. and are held at the Montgomery County Board of Elections at 18753 N. Frederick Avenue, Suite 105, in Gaithersburg. The first canvass of absentee ballots for the 2016 Presidential Primary Election will occur on Thursday, April 28. Provisional ballots are canvassed beginning the following Wednesday, May 4, and remaining absentee ballots returned by the statutory deadline will be canvassed on Friday, May 6.  Statewide certification will follow upon completion of all tabulation and those results may be found on the Maryland State Board of Elections’ website.

For more information on the canvass process, contact Marjorie Roher at 240-777-8625 or  margie.roher@montgomerycountymd.gov. For other election information, call  240-777-VOTE, visit  www.777vote.org , our mobile friendly website at m.montgomerycountymd.gov/elections, the Maryland State Board of Elections’ website at  http://elections.maryland.gov , or follow the Montgomery County Board of Elections on Facebook or Twitter.

Your Time, Your Voice, Your Vote!

Media Contact:  Marjorie Roher, 240-777-8625