A COVID Election
By Chairman Alexander Bush
Few years in history will be as defined by just a handful of events as 2020. It will be remembered as the year of pandemic, economic devastation, and the 2020 Presidential Election. And if the June Primary Election is any indication of what the November General Election will be like, then we should be very worried.
Disturbing reports have come in from dozens of households throughout the county. Many people are reporting to that they have received ballots for family members who passed away decades ago. And if you moved recently – even within the same precinct – and forgot to update your address, someone else may have been mailed your ballot. It’s not as if the Board of Elections will be doing handwriting comparisons or checking for fingerprints. If someone else votes a ballot meant for a deceased person, a non-resident, or someone who just didn’t vote, there will be no way to catch it.
Consistently, Republicans who live in households with non-Republicans have received their ballots noticeably later than everyone else in the house. Most of the appointed members of our Board of Elections are good people, but decisions made by career staff at the State Board of Elections were flawed at best. The vendor for Montgomery County has been extremely slow in getting many Montgomery Countians their ballots and they appear to have made the decision – at some point – to mail out the ballots for Republicans last. This does not necessarily mean a bad intent, but if Democrats were disadvantaged by such a mix up, they would be screaming “voter suppression.”
And don’t even get me started on the fact that the return envelope lists the “ballot style” of your ballot, i.e. your party affiliation. What is to stop an election or postal worker in Montgomery County from selectively discarding all the envelopes with “REP” on them? I can’t think of a thing.
Courts are loath to order an election be done over. Once done wrong, it is almost impossible to get an election re-done. It is a fait accompli.
Now we must look to the fall and hope our Party’s elected officials in the State and Federal Government have the courage to resist the push for an all-by-mail General Election. Democrats will push fear of COVID-19 as far as they can go. They now realize the average Democrat is much more afraid to return to normal and vote in person than the average Republican. And they know that in-person voting is the last thing the already weak Biden campaign needs. Let’s not let the Democrats turn one bad year of COVID into four bad years of Biden.
The Maryland Primary Is Today!
So if our world has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 virus why should our elections be any different. If you didn't get a ballot in the mail, here's what you can do.
1. Get a ballot in person at the Montgomery County Board of Elections, 8:30 am - 5 pm today: 18753 N. Frederick Ave, Suite 210, Gaithersburg, MD 20879.
2. Get your ballot HAND-POSTMARKED by TODAY June 2 at the Post Office. Don't use the mailbox - your ballot won't arrive in time.
3. Drop off your completed ballot by 8 pm, TODAY Tuesday, June 2, at one of these secure ballot drop-off locations:
Activity Center at Bohrer Park *
506 South Frederick Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Germantown Community Recreation Center *
18905 Kingsview Road
Germantown, MD 20874
Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center *
14906 Old Columbia Pike
Burtonsville, MD 20866
Montgomery County Board of Elections
18753 North Frederick Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Rockville City Hall
111 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Silver Spring Civic Building *
1 Veterans Plaza
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center
11701 Georgia Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902
4. Vote in person on TODAY PRIMARY Election Day - Tuesday, June 2 - at one of the four starred * and marked in RED locations noted above .