Politics & Government

Howard 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 Howard County voters need to know.

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HOWARD COUNTY, MD ā€” The deadline for voter registration for November's general election is Tuesday, Oct. 18. Here's what Howard 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 members. Several seats in the Maryland General Assembly are also up for grabs.

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

What District Am I In?

Voters can see which districts they live in by using this tool. That resource also lets 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.

How Can I Register To Vote?

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

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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 Howard 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.

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

County Council District 1

  • Sean J. McCurdy (R): mccurdy4hoco.com
  • Elizabeth "Liz" Walsh (D)

County Council District 2

  • Sheila P. Jennifer (R): sheila4hoco.com
  • Opel Jones (D): opeljones.com

County Council District 3

County Council District 4

  • Deb Jung (D)

County Council District 5

  • David Yungmann (R)
  • Joan U. Pontius (D): joanpontius.com

County State's Attorney

  • Rich Gibson (D): richgibson.net

Sheriff

  • John Francis McMahon (R)
  • Marcus Harris (D): marcusharrisforsheriff.com

Board of Education (two seats)

  • Tudy Adler: adler4BOE.com
  • Linfeng Chen: chen4boe.org
  • Jacky McCoy
  • Dan Newberger: votenewberger.com

Who Is Running For State Government?

Governor

Comptroller

Attorney General

State Senate District 9A

  • Katie Hester (D)
  • Reid Novotny (R)

State House of Delegates District 9A (two seats)

  • Trent Kittleman (R)
  • Chao Wu (D)
  • Natalie Ziegler (D)
  • Jianning Zeng (R)

State House of Delegates District 9B

  • Courtney Watson (D)
  • Lisa Kim (R)

State House of Delegates District 12A (two seats)

  • Jessica Feldmark (D)
  • Terri L. Hill (D)

State Senate District 12A

  • Clarence Lam (D)
  • Bob Cockey (R)

State House of Delegates District 13 (3 seats)

  • Vanessa Atterbeary (D)
  • Jen Terrasa (D)
  • Pam Lanman Guzzone (D)
  • Padraic Walsh (R)
  • Chris Yates (R)

State Senate District 13

  • Guy Guzzone (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.

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. Howard County's single question, by petition, would:

  • Create a law prohibiting the use of county resources for enforcing federal immigration and nationality laws, helping enforcement by collecting or sharing a person's information, asking a person about their citizenship, nationality or immigration status or the status of another person or sharing a person's status with another person.

When Is General Election Day?

The general 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 election day. Voters can look up their polling place by using this search tool.

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

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.

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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