{"id":11402,"date":"2018-07-05T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=11402"},"modified":"2018-07-02T00:34:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T04:34:55","slug":"marylands-recount-procedure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=11402","title":{"rendered":"Maryland\u2019s Recount Procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the elections for the Montgomery and Baltimore County Executives are very close, as are a few others like the District 16 House race, Maryland\u2019s recount procedure is relevant.\u00a0 It is contained in Md. Election Law Code Ann. \u00a7 12-101 through \u00a7 12-107.<\/p>\n

\u201cA candidate for public or party office who has been defeated based on the certified results of any election conducted under this article may petition for a recount of the votes cast for the office sought.\u201d\u00a0 The petition must be filed within three days after the results of the election have been certified and may request a recount in all precincts or just some precincts.\u00a0 An opposing candidate may file a counter-petition if the results of the election are changed or if the original petition only addresses some precincts and the opposing candidate requests that all precincts be recounted.\u00a0 On a ballot question, a registered voter eligible to vote on the question may file a petition for a recount.\u00a0 A registered voter may file a counter-petition on that ballot question if the original petition did not specify all precincts or the result is changed.\u00a0 Bonds are due from the petitioner and\/or counter-petitioner to cover the cost of the recount.<\/p>\n

Recounts are conducted by the appropriate local board(s) of election.\u00a0 The State Board of Elections will monitor and support the work of the local board(s).<\/p>\n

Petitioners are responsible to pay the cost of the recount with the following exceptions laid out in \u00a7 12-107(b)(2).<\/p>\n

(i)\u00a0 the outcome of the election is changed;<\/p>\n

(ii)\u00a0 the petitioner has gained a number of votes, for the petitioner’s candidacy or for or against the question that is the subject of the petition, equal to 2% or more of the total votes cast for the office or on the question, in all precincts being recounted; or<\/p>\n

(iii)\u00a0 1. the margin of difference in the number of votes received by an apparent winner and the losing candidate with the highest number of votes for an office is 0.1% or less of the total votes cast for those candidates;<\/p>\n

2. in the case of a question, the margin of difference between the number of votes cast for and the number cast against the question is 0.1% or less.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the petitioners are not responsible for paying the recount cost, the county must pay.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of the Montgomery County Executive candidates, the recount payment threshold, which is \u201cthe margin of difference in the number of votes received by an apparent winner and the losing candidate with the highest number of votes for an office is 0.1% or less of the total votes cast for those candidates\u201d is approximately 70 votes since Marc Elrich and David Blair together received roughly 70,000 votes.\u00a0 Our hunch is that either campaign would be willing to bear the cost of a recount if necessary although how Elrich would finance a bond while in the fundraising constraints of public financing is an interesting question for lawyers to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. As the elections for the Montgomery and Baltimore County Executives are very close, as are a few others like the District 16 House race, Maryland\u2019s recount procedure is relevant.\u00a0 It is contained in Md. Election Law Code Ann. \u00a7 12-101 through \u00a7 12-107. \u201cA candidate for public or party office who has … Continue reading Maryland\u2019s Recount Procedure<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[1545,2235],"class_list":["post-11402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-recounts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-2XU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11402"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11408,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402\/revisions\/11408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}