Politics & Government

Prince George's County 2022 General Election: Guide To Candidates, How To Vote

The deadline for voter registration for November's general election is Tuesday, Oct. 18. Here's what Prince George's voters need to know.

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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — The deadline for voter registration for November's general election is Tuesday, Oct. 18. Here's what Prince George's County voters need to know.

Statewide races include those for governor, comptroller and attorney general. Federal contests feature battles for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Chris Van Hollen, who is challenged by Republican Chris Chaffee.

Voters will decide the next county executive and county council members, along with school board. Several seats in the Maryland General Assembly are also up for grabs.

Find out what's happening in Bowiefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Here is everything you need to know about the 2022 Maryland general election in Prince George's County.

How Can I Register To Vote?

Voter registration closes on Oct. 18. Marylanders can register or update their information at this link.

Find out what's happening in Bowiefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

How Can I Vote By Mail Or Dropbox?

Marylanders can request a ballot to return by mail or dropbox. Those ballots can be delivered by mail or fax. Voters can also download their ballot from the state's website.

Find a sample ballot online for Prince George's County.

Residents can request a ballot by:

The deadline for ballot requests to be received, not just sent, is:

  • Nov. 1 if the ballot will be delivered by mail or fax
  • Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. if using use the mail to request a ballot that will be sent over the internet
  • Nov. 4 at 11:59 p.m. if using the online form or fax to request a ballot that will be sent over the internet
  • Nov. 8 if requesting a ballot in person at a local board of elections office

Ballots received over the internet must then be printed. Voters should then return their completed ballot by mail or dropbox. Marylanders cannot cast their votes online.

Residents can return their completed ballot by:

  • Hand delivering it to their local board of elections by 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 or taking it to an early voting center by the time the polls close
  • Mailing it to their local board of elections. These ballots must be postmarked on or before Nov. 8. Election officials must receive these ballots by 10 a.m. on Nov. 18
  • Placing it in one of these dropboxes in their county by 8 p.m. on Nov. 8

More information on mail-in and dropbox voting is available on this website.

When Is Early Voting?

Early voting will run from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3. Early voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day.

Marylanders can vote early at any early voting center in their county. A full list of early voting centers is posted here.

When Is General Election Day?

The gubernatorial primary election day is Nov. 8. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Residents must vote at their assigned polling place on primary election day. Voters can look up their polling place by using this search tool.

To read more about the general election, visit this website.

What District Am I In?

Voters can see which districts they live in by using this tool. That resource also tells Marylanders their:

  • Review their voter registration record.
  • Request a duplicate voter registration card.
  • Learn where to vote.
  • Find out their voting districts
  • See their current state and federal representatives.
  • Contact your local board of elections.
  • Check the status of their mail-in or provisional ballot.
  • View their sample ballot.

Who Is Running For County Government?

All the candidates are posted below.

Patch asked every county executive and County Council candidate to complete a questionnaire. The names of candidates who completed our survey are linked to their responses.

We also included all the campaign websites listed on the Maryland State Board of Elections candidate portal.

County Executive

  • Angela D. Alsobrooks (D)

County Council At Large

  • Mel Franklin (D)
  • Calvin S. Hawkins, Jr. (D)

County Council District 1

  • Tom Dernoga (D)

County Council District 2

  • Wanika Fisher (D)

County Council District 3

  • Eric C. Olson (D)

County Council District 4

  • Ingrid S. Harrison (D)

County Council District 5

  • Jolene Ivey (D)

County Council District 6

  • Wala Blegay (D)

County Council District 7

  • Gary Falls (R)
  • Krystal Oriadha (D)

County Council District 8

  • Edward Burroughs, III (D)

County Council District 9

  • Sydney Harrison (D)

County State's Attorney

  • Aisha Braveboy (D)

Sheriff

  • John D.B. Carr (D)

Board of Education

The county's school board has 13 members: nine are elected to four-year terms by district, three are appointed by the county executive, and one is appointed by the county council. School board races are non-partisan. While four seats were up for election, but only one had a primary, District 6. The other contested races in the general election are in Districts 2, 3 and 9.

Here are the candidates in those races, according to DCist.com:

District 6

  • Branndon D. Jackson
  • Ashley Kearney
District 2
  • Joshua Thomas (incumbent)
  • Jenni Pompi
District 3
  • Pamela Boozer-Strother (incumbent)
  • Varinia Sandino
District 9
  • Lolita E. Walker
  • Kent Roberson

Who Is Running For State Government?

Governor

Comptroller

Attorney General

State Senate District 21

  • Lee Havis (R)
  • Jim Rosapepe (D)

State Senate District 22

  • Paul G. Pinsky (D)

State Senate District 23

  • Jesse Peed (R)
  • Ron Watson (D)

State Senate District 24

  • Joanne C. Benson (D)

State Senate District 25

  • Melony G. Griffith (D)

State Senate District 26

  • Ike Puzon (R)
  • C. Anthony Muse (D)

State Senate District 27

  • Al Larsen (R)
  • Michael A. Jackson (D)

State Senate District 47

  • Malcolm Augustine (D)

State House of Delegates District 21

  • Ben Barnes (D)
  • Mary A. Lehman (D)
  • Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk (D)

State House of Delegates District 22

  • Anne Healey (D)
  • Alonzo T. Washington (D)
  • Nicole A. Williams (D)

State House of Delegates District 23

  • Adrian Boafo (D)
  • Marvin E. Holmes, Jr. (D)
  • Kym Taylor (D)

State House of Delegates District 24

  • Tiffany T. Alston (D)
  • Andrea Fletcher Harrison (D)
  • Jazz M. Lewis (D)

State House of Delegates District 25

  • Darryl Barnes (D)
  • Nick Charles (D)
  • Karen Toles (D)

State House of Delegates District 26

  • JoAnn Fisher (R)
  • Veronica Turner (D)
  • Kriselda Valderrama (D)
  • Jamila J. Woods (D)

State House of Delegates District 27A

  • Kevin M. Harris (D)
  • Jeffrie E. Long, Jr. (D)

State House of Delegates District 47A

  • Diana M. Fennell (D)
  • Robert Julian Ivey (D)

State House of Delegates District 47B

  • Deni Taveras (D)

Who Is Running For Federal Government?

U.S. Senate

U.S. House District 3

U.S. House District 5

Is Anybody Else Running?

Yes. Several court positions and party central committee seats are also on the ballot. A full list of every race in Maryland is posted at this link.

For any other questions, visit elections.maryland.gov.

Are There Any Referendums?

Marylanders will decide five ballot measures in the Nov. 8 general election. The one with the widest impact is the question of whether recreational marijuana should be legal, known as Ballot Question 4.

If passed, residents 21 and older could use and possess up to 1.5 ounces of usable cannabis or 12 grams of concentrated cannabis on or after July 1, 2023.

More than half of Maryland's registered voters support legalizing recreational marijuana, multiple polls suggest.

Related: Biden Looks To Weed Decriminalization: What It Means Ahead Of MD Marijuana Referendum

The other statewide ballot measures, as explained by Ballotpedia, if approved would:

  • Rename the Maryland Court of Appeals as the Supreme Court of Maryland and change the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland.
  • Amend the Maryland Constitution to require that state legislators live in and maintain a residence in the district they wish to represent at least six months before an election.
  • Amend the Maryland Constitution to increase the amount in which the right to a jury trial may be limited by state law from $15,000 to $25,000.
  • Amend the state constitution to require that Howard County Circuit Court judges serve on the orphans' court and repeal the county's need to elect three judges to the orphans' court.

The exact wording of each ballot question is listed here. A non-technical summary of each question is available on this webpage.

Several jurisdictions also have local ballot questions. Prince George's County's ballot will ask voters about:

Question A
Bond Issue
Community College Facilities Bonds
AN ACT enabling the county to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $64,611,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation, relocation, rehabilitation or repair of community college facilities, including the acquisition and development of sites therefor, the architectural and engineering services incident thereto, and the acquisition and installation of necessary fixed permanent equipment therefor, as defined therein.

Question B
Bond Issue
County Buildings Bonds
AN ACT enabling the County to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $51,939,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation, relocation, rehabilitation or repair of county buildings, including the acquisition and development of sites therefor, the architectural and engineering services incident thereto, and the acquisition and installation of necessary fixed permanent equipment therefor, as defined therein.

Question C
Bond Issue
Library Facilities Bonds
AN ACT enabling the County to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $9,258,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation, relocation, rehabilitation or repair of library facilities, including the acquisition and development of sites therefor, the architectural and engineering services incident thereto, and the acquisition and installation of necessary fixed permanent equipment therefor, as defined therein.

Question D
Bond Issue
Public Works and Transportation Facilities Bonds
AN ACT enabling the County to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $208,686,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation, relocation, rehabilitation or repair of Public Works and Transportation Facilities (including roads and bridges, parking lots, and maintenance facilities), including the acquisition and development of sites therefor, the architectural and
engineering services incident thereto, and the acquisition and installation of necessary fixed permanent equipment therefor, as defined therein.

Question E
Bond Issue
Public Safety Facilities Bonds
AN ACT enabling the County to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not
exceeding $45,925,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction,
extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation,
relocation, rehabilitation or repair of Public Safety Facilities (including Fire
Department Facilities), including the acquisition and development of sites therefor,
the architectural and engineering services incident thereto, and the acquisition and
installation of necessary fixed permanent equipment therefor, as defined therein.

Question F
Charter Amendment
Compensation of County Executive and County Council Member
To have the compensation of the County Council members and the County Executive comply with state law.

Question G
Charter Amendment
Gender Neutral Language In Charter
To provide for gender neutral language in several sections throughout the Charter.

Question H
Charter Amendment
Support Local And Minority Businesses
To include County law for the encouragement and support of local and minority businesses consistent with requirements of Federal, State, and County law.

Question I
Charter Amendment
County Competitive Bidding
To provide that public notice for bids or proposals shall be advertised on a publicly available website designated by the County Purchasing Agent, and in any other manner determined by the County Code. Such purchases and contracts shall be made from or awarded to the responsive and responsible bid that is most favorable to the county with respect to “best value," including technical requirements, diversity of suppliers, and costs, as defined in the Code; to provide for bonding and generally regarding competitive bidding.

Question J
Charter Amendment
County Council Member Residency Requirement
To provide that an at-large Council member shall have been a qualified voter of Prince George’s County for at least one year immediately preceding their general election. Council members representing one of the nine Council districts shall have been a qualified voter of their respective Council district for at least one year immediately preceding their general election. In an election year immediately following an approved decennial redistricting plan changing the boundaries of any Council district, the one-year residency requirement immediately preceding the general election shall not apply if a person is deemed a qualified voter but no longer resides in their former Council district because of a boundary change in the approved decennial redistricting plan. Such person shall have resided in their former Council district for at least one-year immediately preceding their general election and shall reside in the same Council district as changed in the approved decennial redistricting plan by the deadline for filing a certificate of candidacy.

When Will The Results Be Certified?

Election officials will not certify the final results for at least 10 days. Officials must wait for every mail-in and provisional ballot to come in.

Soon after polls close on Nov. 8, the Maryland State Board of Elections will release the jurisdiction-specific tallies from in-person early voting and mail-in ballots counted up to Election Day.

Officials will start releasing the Election Day vote counts over the following hours on election night.

All 24 jurisdictions will start releasing their early voting and Election Day tallies on Nov. 8. Only 10 will release the mail-in ballot results tallied before Election Day.

The Maryland Court of Appeals on Oct. 7 ruled that local election offices can opt to start counting mail-in ballots before Election Day. They cannot release these results until after polls close on Election Day, and they must continue accepting ballots until the statewide deadline of Nov. 18 at 10 a.m.

Related: Maryland's Highest Court Upholds Order Allowing Early Counting Of Mail-In Ballots

These jurisdictions plan to conduct pre-Election Day canvassing of mail-in ballots: Baltimore City and Allegany, Baltimore, Calvert, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, Saint Mary's and Washington Counties.

Fourteen jurisdictions do not have the space or personnel to count early mail-in ballots as they arrive.

These counties will start canvassing their mail-in ballots on Nov. 10, which is two days after Election Day: Anne Arundel, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Garrett, Harford, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester.

"We appreciate the diligence of the local boards in assessing the most appropriate canvassing approach for their individual teams and always placing the integrity of the election process above all else to ensure the will of Maryland voters is heard through their votes," Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone said in a press release.

Election officials will tally provisional ballots on Nov. 16. Mail-in ballots will be counted as they arrive until Nov. 18. Local boards cannot certify their results before Nov. 18.

Here is some more coverage of Maryland's biggest races:

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