The two final results from the June 24 primary elections have arrived, leaving each race clearer for the general election in November.
In Prince George’s County’s race for Council District 2, Deni Taveras has emerged as the victor by a mere 6 votes. A recount completed this week and confirmed the result, and her rival Doyle Neimann, a current member of the House of Delegates has conceded the race. From coverage in the Washington Post:
Niemann’s announcement on Wednesday capped a protracted post-election. The well-known lawmaker requested a recount late last week after the county’s Board of Elections spent more than two weeks tallying all remaining provisional and absentee ballots.
Representatives for both candidates oversaw Saturday’s recount, which was done by hand, but the board rejected arguments from Niemann’s attorney that its staff erred when they discounted about two dozen provisional ballots.
The contest was too close to call on Election Day. Niemann initially seemed to have the lead with about a handful of votes, but as late votes were counted, Taveras moved ahead by the same margin.
In Baltimore County, a close race for the Republican nomination for County Executive has yielded a 20 vote margin for George Harman, who also saw his victory reaffirmed after a recount. From coverage in the Baltimore Sun:
GOP rival Tony Campbell requested the recount last week after trailing Harman by 18 votes in the June 24 primary election.
Officials began counting about 28,000 ballots Tuesday morning and finished that evening. Harman expanded his lead over Campbell by two votes after officials counted two provisional ballots for Harman.
County election director Katie Brown said she had expected the recount to take about 10 days, but “a great joint effort by everybody” helped make the process run smoothly.
More than 60 people helped count ballots, including most of the Board of Elections staff and elections officials from Montgomery and Howard counties.
Mr. Harman will face incumbent County Executive Kevin Kamenetz in the November general election.
