Hundreds of Annapolis voters flocked to the polls for the city Democratic primary Tuesday, defying rain and a gas leak to cast their votes.
City officials were working Tuesday night to tabulate in-person results, which were not available as of the deadline for this article. Check capitalgazette.com for the latest preliminary tallies.
Voters had a choice between Democrats Jared Littmann, a former alderman and hardware store owner, and Rhonda Pindell Charles, the current Ward 3 alderman, for mayor. The primary winner will advance to the November general election against Republican candidate Bob O’Shea, who did not have a primary opponent.
The city election this year will also determine the makeup of the Annapolis City Council as two-term mayor Gavin Buckley, who is term-limited, concludes his lead over city politics and half of the current eight aldermen are not running for re-election. Wards 1, 3, 4 and 6 had competitive alderman primaries Tuesday.
Candidates and volunteers braved rainy conditions. Some, including Ward 1 alderman candidates Harry Huntley and Ron Gunzburger, stayed out nearly all day waving signs and encouraging passersby to stop in the city hall polling booth.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 1,610 people had voted in-person across the city. In Ward 1, the city’s most competitive alderman primary, 395 people had voted in person by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Polls were to close at 8 p.m.
The election will likely not be resolved from Tuesday night’s vote count, as officials were to count only in-person votes on election night. Mail-in ballots, including mailed ballots and those placed in drop boxes, and provisional ballots will begin to be counted starting on Sept. 23; the process could last for one to two days.
As of Tuesday at 5 p.m., 1,481 voters’ mail-in ballots had reached the county board of elections and 2,056 mail-in ballots had been sent to voters. This does not include ballots picked up from drop boxes at the end of election night or ballots still being sent through USPS. Mail-in ballots must have been postmarked by election day and received by the county within seven days of the election to be counted.
Turnout in the primary election could double turnout from the city’s last local primary in 2021, when 1,772 people voted.
Election day went smoothly throughout the city, officials said, except for a gas leak from a stove that briefly disrupted voting in Ward 3’s Mount Olive Community Life Center Tuesday morning.
The building was evacuated after 8 a.m. for about 10 to 15 minutes as Baltimore Gas and Electric secured the leak. Three people were evaluated by emergency medical services at the center.
Multiple voters interviewed Tuesday by the Capital listed mayor candidate Pindell Charles’ connections to the community and personal interactions with her as an alderman as reasons for casting their votes for her. This included Fred Foreman, 68, who said he voted for Pindell Charles because he’s known her for a couple of years and likes how she interacts with the community.
“Rhonda is really a hard worker; she’s fair to everybody,” Denise Vauls, 74, said.
Pindell Charles has represented Ward 3 on the city council since 2013 and grew up in the city. Her competitor, Littmann, moved to Annapolis in 2010.
Littmann voters described his experience as a business owner and as a board member for True Value Hardware as what makes him mayor material.
“It goes back to what you’ve done,” Henri Abrams, a Ward 3 resident, said. “The man has a body of work.”
Multiple candidates were set to host election-night parties at nearby restaurants, regardless of the low likelihood that a winner will be declared on election night.
Have a news tip? Contact Katharine Wilson at kwilson@baltsun.com.