Politics & Government
Baltimore Primary 2016: Poll Problems, Pugh Accepts Challenge
Preliminary results show tight race between former Mayor Sheila Dixon and Sen. Catherine Pugh for Democratic mayoral nomination.
BALTIMORE, MD – Sen. Catherine Pugh declared herself the Democratic nominee in Baltimore's mayoral race Tuesday evening, shortly before the Associated Press projected her the winner.
"My message is about inclusion," Pugh said, surrounded by government leaders and community activists, vowing to "focus on some of those neighborhoods and communities that we’ve left out" in Charm City.
Problems that have plagued Baltimore extended to the city's polling places Tuesday, causing some to open an hour late, resulting in an emergency court hearing and judge's order to keep a handful of polling sites open.Polling places at John Eager Howard Elementary School, Beth-Am Synagogue, Oliver Multi-purpose Center and Pimlico Elementary School stayed open until 9 p.m., and election officials did not report any results until all had closed.
With 95 percent of precincts reporting after 11:30 p.m., Pugh had nearly 37 percent of the votes, while Dixon had 34 percent.
With more than half of the precincts reporting, mayoral hopeful Sen. Catherine Pugh had 38 percent of the votes, while former Mayor Sheila Dixon had 33 percent, according to unofficial Baltimore City Board of Elections data.
"We almost did it, but you know...it was God's will and the people's will," Dixon told WJZ after 11 p.m., when she determined she was not winning the nomination. "I hope that moving forward, [Baltimore] doesn't get divided anymore." She said right now, she planned to rest, as she had been working on her campaign since March 2015.
Early voting showed Pugh with a larger lead; according to early voting results, Pugh had 44 percent of the votes, compared with 33 percent for Dixon.
See unofficial results for Baltimore City from the Maryland Board of Elections.
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Voters showed up Tuesday morning to find there were no pens, no "I Voted" stickers and no people to open up the polling places at a handful of locations in Baltimore, several citizens reported.
Lawyer Billy Murphy filed a petition in Baltimore City Circuit Court to keep polls open until 10 p.m.—rather than 8 p.m.—alleging that several opened an hour late, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported he made the motion on behalf of U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat.
A judge ruled at 7:30 p.m. that the four sites listed above would stay open until 9 p.m. Tuesday.
In addition to the hours being bungled, the city's election director failed to include the “I Voted” stickers in the election gear sent to the city’s 296 precincts. Some workers were dispatched to deliver the stickers or pick them up at election headquarters, Armstead B.C. Jones Sr., election director, told The Baltimore Sun.
Stickers were on hand in southwest Baltimore Tuesday afternoon, where citizens trickled in to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School to cast their ballots.
“If you want change, you’ve got to vote,” Lavar Boykin, 26, of Baltimore, said outside the elementary school in the city's neighborhood of Hunting Ridge.
"I want to see some different folks shake it up economically,” he said.
“For the longest time the vacant homes have been falling in left and right,” added Boykin, who noted it would make sense, in a city where there was a problem with joblessness, to hire residents to fix the houses.
So who did he check off on his ballot? “I voted for the best man or woman,” he said.
Boykin voted alongside his mother, who he said he watched vote his whole life and who taught him that if he wanted to make a difference, he needed to make his way to the polls.
Election workers told Patch that the trickle of voters on Tuesday was a sharp contrast from packed polling sites during Maryland's early voting period.
As candidates made last-minute pushes to connect with voters, mayoral Democratic frontrunner Sen. Catherine Pugh was doing crisis management.
Pugh, who is projected to lead the mayoral race with 31 percent of Democratic voter support based on a recent University of Baltimore-Baltimore Sun poll, has touted job creation as part of her platform. So it came as a shock to some who showed up Tuesday morning with the promise of paying jobs at Pugh's campaign office on Ellamont Avenue that the positions were unavailable.
With frustrated job-seekers on the street and tensions rising, windows on Pugh's campaign vehicles were smashed and tires were slashed, according to WJZ, which reported Pugh has since said the miscommunication was resolved and she has provided jobs for all who sought them.
Pugh is contending for the Democratic nomination in a crowded field where her main competition has held the position of Baltimore's leader before.
Former Mayor Sheila Dixon had 25 percent of Democratic voter support in the UB-Sun poll. Dixon was mayor from 2007 to 2010, when she resigned from her post after being convicted of embezzlement for using gift cards that were for needy families.
While Pugh and Dixon are considered the frontrunners, nearly a dozen candidates are also vying for the Democratic mayoral nomination: Mack Clifton, Gersham Cupid, Elizabeth Embry, Patrick Gutierrez, DeRay Mckesson, Nick Mosby, Carl Stokes, Cindy Walsh, David Warnock, Wilton Wilson and Calvin Allen Young III.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26.
[<a href="//storify.com/MarylandPatch/baltimore-primary-day-windows-smashed-no-stickers" target="_blank">View the story "Baltimore Primary Day: Windows Smashed, No Stickers" on Storify</a>]
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