Prince George's County write-in vote count delayed by manual review process
State election officials explain why nearly 38,000 write-in ballots are not yet attributed to candidate Tonya Sweat, despite her claims of irregularity.
By Kevin Iyer ·
Prince George's County Executive Aisha Braveboy won the election with more than 190,000 votes, securing roughly 83 percent of the total ballots cast. The Associated Press called the race for Braveboy immediately after polls closed on Tuesday, based on early returns that showed a decisive lead.
However, the election results remain incomplete regarding the approximately 38,000 write-in votes cast in the race. As of Friday afternoon, the Maryland State Board of Elections reported zero votes for Tonya Sweat, the only registered write-in candidate. This discrepancy has led Sweat and her supporters to question the integrity of the count.
The state board explained that ballot-counting machines record the act of filling in a write-in bubble but do not identify the specific name written by the voter. Consequently, the initial data report only the total number of write-in ballots. The specific allocation of these votes to candidates occurs during the ten-day canvassing period that follows Election Day.
During this manual review, canvassers examine each ballot to determine voter intent. Jared DeMarinis, the state elections administrator, noted that a ballot with a misspelling of Sweat's name still counts toward her total. He stated that this manual process has always been the standard method for handling write-in votes in the state.
Sweat, who ran on a platform of transparency and accountability, has rejected this explanation. In an interview on Friday, she argued that if the process has always been this way, it has always been inaccurate. She also sent an email to state and local officials on Thursday, threatening federal legal action for civil rights violations and disparagement of her reputation.
The high number of write-in votes appears to have affected Braveboy's vote share relative to other Democratic candidates in the state. She received about 14 percent fewer votes than Governor Wes Moore, who garnered 222,000 ballots. In contrast, Will Jawando of Montgomery County received only about 4 percent fewer votes than the governor. In Howard, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Frederick counties, the winning Democratic candidates received more votes than the governor.
John Willis, a former Maryland secretary of state, said the differing political dynamics in each jurisdiction make cross-county comparisons difficult. He predicted the gap between Braveboy and other candidates would shrink as canvassers continue their work. Brian Fischer, spokesperson for the county executive, said Braveboy is grateful to voters and aware of the concerns raised during her first year in office.
