A special election to fill a vacant at-large Prince George’s County Council seat could cost an estimated $1.3 million, the county Board of Elections was told Monday.
Election Administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey said that is just the cost of running the election – it does not include expenses such as printing ballots and training about 400 election judges who will be needed. She said after the meeting that those costs will be split with the state.
“We were able to utilize a lot of internal staff so that we can cut down on costs for this special election,” she said of the operational costs.
Officials have little time to spare to get ready for the election to fill the at-large County Council seat vacated by Jamel “Mel” Franklin last month: Primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 6, with the winner of those races squaring off in the Nov. 5 general election.
Honesty-Bey said about 600,000 ballots will be mailed to registered voters countywide starting July 23. Voters will be able to cast early ballots at nine voting centers located at public schools, or put their ballots in one of 39 drop-off boxes throughout the county between July 31 and Aug. 5.
Nine Democrats and four Republicans have filed to run in the primary. According to the county board, the Democratic candidates are County Council Chair Jolene Ivey, state Del. Marvin E. Holmes Jr., former Del. Angela M. Angel, Bowie Mayor Tim Adams, Tamara Davis Brown, Gabriel Njinimbot, Keisha D. Lewis, Judy Mickens-Murray and Leo Bachi Eyombo.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by William Ford over at Maryland Matters
