Montgomery County Voters Say They Want Change

SILVER SPRING, MD — Despite the rain, voters across Montgomery County lined up to cast their ballot in this year's critical midterm election. Regardless of party affiliation, many voters said they were dissatisfied with the current state of politics and wanted a change.

Karen Probasco, 44, voted in Silver Spring and said she was galvanized to vote: "I would say about 45 percent issues and 55 percent frustration."

"I'm really angry with the Republican Party," Probasco told Patch. "I wish that political dialogues were more academically-oriented on both sides. I'm kind of beside myself with the rhetoric that I am seeing from the Republican side."

"[The rhetoric] has become too hyperbolic and I think that it is morally reprehensible to use emotionally charged issues and to bring up hatred as a way to stoke political movement," Probasco continued.

Richard Dong, a 25-year-old voter from Silver Spring, said he is supportive of change. "I don't agree with the current agenda of the political heads that we currently have," he told Patch. "So I would approve of a change."

Dong said he wasn't planning on voting this election cycle. "Initially, I wasn't going to vote at all because Maryland is primarily a Democratic state," Dong said. "So, I am under the opinion that if I had lived in a more swingy state that my vote matters more. But I decided, I never voted before, let's give it a shot."

Polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. in Maryland. The Maryland Board of Elections has delayed releasing the results because voters were still waiting to cast their vote.

"Voters in a few polling places are still in the process of voting," the elections board wrote on Twitter. "We will release the unofficial results once they have all finished voting."

Voters who arrived at polling places early Tuesday reported some issues in at least three polling places in the city of Baltimore.

Voters also encountered issues while at the polls in Montgomery County. Montgomery County Council member Tom Hucker reported issues at the Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville:

It isn’t just GA & KS that make it hard to vote. In #MontgomeryCounty there’s only 1 wrkg scanner here @ #Praisner Rec Center in #EastCounty! And 1 of every 7 voters are requesting prov ballots bc they’re at the wrong polling place. They need another scanner & more poll workers. pic.twitter.com/UEyxKLT7Ug

— Tom Hucker (@tomhucker) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/tomhucker/... 6, 2018

It's too early to predict if Maryland will see a Red Tide or a Blue Wave in 2018. Regardless, the outcome will be historic.

In the governor's race, Republican incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan is facing off against Democratic challenger Ben Jealous. If Gov. Hogan wins, he will become the first Republican governor in Maryland to win re-election in more than 50 years. If Jealous wins, he'll make history as the state's first African-American governor.

Ritsaart Marcelis, 34, a voter in Silver Spring, said the governor's race is the most important race to him, and he voted for Jealous. "It's the only one where I can see a real big change happening in terms of policy," Marcellis told Patch. "And Hogan's okay, but I prefer if it was somebody else."

Dong said he didn't follow the county and local elections closely. "I just went with my party affiliation, basically," he told Patch.

Image via Alessia Grunberger/Patch