MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Incumbent Marc Elrich has won by a paper-thin margin of 35 votes over challenger David Blair, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections.
The board-certified the votes Saturday, nearly a month after the election took place.
On Friday, the election certification was delayed when 102 provisional ballots were found still uncounted after an error involving missing and unopened ballot envelopes.
The missing ballots were from:
- Precinct 06-10 – 1 ballot
- Precinct 06-11 – 1 ballot
- Precinct 06-13 – 14 ballots
- Precinct 06-14 – 7 ballots
- Precinct 06-15 – 15 ballots
- Precinct 13-56 – 12 ballots
- Precinct 13-57 – 10 ballots
- Precinct 13-58 – 30 ballots
- Precinct 13-59 – 12 ballot
Although Elrich declared victory days ago, challenger David Blair said he's planning on a recount.
Although the final votes were still being counted at the time, Elrich tweeted a victory message on Aug. 7 thanking his supporters.
"I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for County Executive," he wrote late Saturday night. "I want to thank the voters. I love this county and care about our residents so very deeply. This primary has been a long journey (and certainly exciting).
Any candidate for public or party office who has been defeated in any election can petition for a recount, according to the government, and that can be requested for all of the precincts in which the office was on the ballot or any specific precincts in question.
A recount can only be requested if the margin of difference between the two candidates with the most votes is less than 5%.