Anne Arundel Election Results: Schuh Upset In County Exec Race

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Democrat Steuart Pittman appears to have unseated Republican Steve Schuh in the race for Anne Arunel County executive, according to unofficial election returns. Schuh received 101,822 votes, while Pittman garnered 109,585 votes, according to the Maryland Board of Elections.

Pittman thanked police, teachers and firefighter unions in part for his win. He pledged to make county government more transparent. “Anne Arundel County is going to be better than the best place to work, live and start a business,” Pittman said, the Capital reports.

Schuh told his supporters, "We leave the county in better condition than ... we found it.”

Elections officials began releasing some preliminary data after 10:15 p.m., once all those in line had been able to vote. Polls closed at 8 p.m.

See the unofficial results here.

Anne Arundel County residents voted for governor, members of Congress, county executive and council, school board, state's attorney, sheriff and statehouse, along with county charter questions.

One problem was reported mid-morning at County Council District 7, precinct 2, when a voter reported that when she went to turn in her ballot at Deale Elementary School she was told the scanner was not working, so election workers were collecting the ballots and will scan them later.

An Anne Arundel County election official confirmed to Patch that the scanner at Deale Elementary is broken, and they're working to fix it. It's the only scanner at that precinct.

Voters at Deale Elementary, 759 Masons Beach Road, have to complete a paper ballot by filling in an oval next to each candidate's name. Then they insert it into a scanning machine, which electronically scans the ballot to tally the precinct's total vote.

The election official told Patch they're asking voters to put the paper ballots in an emergency compartment in the scanning machine instead of scanning them.

"They're using the emergency bin of the unit to collect ballots," he said.

When the scanning machine is fixed, a bipartisan pair of election judges will collect the ballots from the emergency bin and put them through the scanner to count the votes, the election official said.

The Board of Elections recommends voting between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to avoid delays at the polls, but you still have time to vote. Find your polling place. See the sample ballots at the end of the article for the full list of candidates, which includes races by district. Also learn about the candidates in the Anne Arundel County League of Women Voters guide.

Local offices on the ballot include:
County Executive

Incumbent Steve Schuh, Republican vs Democrat Steuart Pittman

Steve Schuh answered the League of Women Voters questions. Answers, in part, are:
QUALIFICATIONS: I have served as Anne Arundel County Executive since 2014. I am a lifelong Anne Arundel County resident and small business owner. I know the County, its people and what they care about. First as a State Delegate and now as County Executive, I have proven experience in constituent service, the legislative process, and working with others and creating coalitions to get things done.
CHALLENGES: Our top challenges are to: 1. Intelligently manage our lands and waterways. 2. Uplift people with challenges, particularly those who suffer from homelessness and substandard housing, lack of job skills, the challenges of old age and addiction. 3. Reduce overcrowding in schools and accelerate school construction. 4. Encourage economic growth and job creation by moderating taxes, fees and regulation.
Steuart Pittman answered the League of Women Voters questions. Answers, in part, are:

QUALIFICATIONS: I have run businesses and nonprofit organizations for 33 years. I operate a south county farm that has been in our family for eight generations and Retired Racehorse
Project, a national non-profit that is responsible for retraining and rehoming thousands of horses each year. I spent nine years as a community organizer, helping local groups to influence decisions made by their elected officials.
CHALLENGES: Our greatest challenges are fiscal. My opponent, the incumbent county executive, has used taxpayer funded development subsidies to promote growth, but failed to adequately fund the schools, public safety, or infrastructure to serve the growing population. We need to engage the public in the budget process and give them the data to make wise choices about how their money is spent.

County Council

• District 1 Republican:Kimberly McCoy Burns vs Democrat: Sarah Lacey
• District 2 Republican: Tom Gardner vs Democrat: Allison Pickard
• District 3 Republican: Nathan Volke vs Democrat: Debbie Ritchie
• District 4 Republican: Torrey J. Snow vs Democrat: Andrew C. Pruski
• District 5 Republican: Amanda Fiedler vs Democrat: Dawn Gough Myers
• District 6 Republican: Michael Christman vs Democrat: Lisa Brannigan Rodvien
• District 7 Republican: Jessica Haire vs Democrat: James Kitchin

State's Attorney

• Republican Wes Adams (incumbent) vs Democrat Anne Colt Leitess

Sheriff

• Republican Jim Fredericks vs. Democrat James Williams

Board of Education (Nonpartisan positions)

• District 1: Candace C.W. Antwine vs David P. Starr
• District 4: Melissa Ellis vs Julie K. Hummer
• District 5: Terry R. Gilleland Jr. vs Dana Schallheim
• District 7: Michelle Corkadel vs Laticia Hicks

Anne Arundel County General Election Sample Ballot

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Voters will also decide two amendments to the Maryland Constitution. One would require

that the governor, beginning in fiscal year 2020, provide in the annual budget submission supplemental state funding for public education through the use of commercial gaming revenues. The second amendment authorizes the General Assembly to enact legislation to allow a qualified individual to register and vote at a precinct polling place on Election Day. The current law requires voter registration to close before Election Day.

There are three county charter amendments to be decided:

Question A: Legislative Procedure - Notice of Amendment to Comprehensive Zoning Ordinances. Would require notice by posting on a subject property before amending a comprehensive zoning ordinance to include a zoning change request made to the County Council and not proposed or reviewed by the Office of Planning and Zoning.

Question B: Purchasing Contract Limits. In part it would restrict the County Council’s ability to increase the minimum value of purchases and contracts requiring full competitive bidding from $25,000 to $50,000; and to require that the County Purchasing Agent shall publish on the Anne Arundel County website all awards of contracts through the bidding processes for capital improvements, contractual services, professional services, or supplies of $5,000 or greater.

Question C: Duties of County Auditor - Reports of Fraud. Would require that the County Auditor receive a copy of any report related to employee theft or fraud in the County and to permit the County Auditor to inspect the records relating to the report and forward any exception to the findings of the fraud investigation to the County Council and the County Executive.

This story includes a tip from ProPublica's Electionland project, which monitors voting problems around the country. If you had trouble voting, or if you saw something you want to tell us about, here's how.

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