With all 50 precincts reporting primary election day and early voting returns in Carroll County, Haven Shoemaker held a large lead over David Ellin in the state’s attorney race.
Shoemaker, a Maryland State delegate and former county commissioner, earned 9,682 votes (58%) to Ellin’s 7,003 (42%). Both candidates are Republican. There are no Democrats in the race, so the winner of the primary will be the county’s next state’s attorney.
Mail-in votes will be counted starting Thursday. As of Tuesday afternoon, the county had received about 7,900 mail-in ballots of the 14,009 sent to voters who requested them, according to Carroll County Elections Director Katherine Berry.
In the Carroll County Board of Education race, Steve Whisler was in the lead with 12,348 votes (17.9%), followed by incumbent Tara Battaglia with 11,768 (17.08%), incumbent Patricia Dorsey with 11,191 (16.24%), and James Miller with 10,382 (15.07%). Battaglia, Miller and Whisler ran on an official slate together. A slate is an official legal designation; its members raise and spend money as a group with a shared mission.
Close behind were Tom Scanlan, who earned 10,130 votes (14.7%) and Amanda Jozkowsi, who received 9,695 votes (14.07%).
In the Board of Carroll County Commissioners Republican races, Joe Vigliotti led candidates in District 1 with 1,566 votes (46.2%); current school board member Ken Kiler led in District 2, with 2,329 votes (60.3%); in District 3 Tom Gordon led with 1,373 votes (52.7%); in District 4 Michael R. Guerin was on top with 2,532 votes (83.2%); and in District 5, incumbent Ed Rothsetin held the lead with 1,741 votes (54.7%).
There is only one Democrat in the commissioners race, Zach Hands, who ran unopposed in District 3. He will face the winner of the Republican primary in the general election. For all other commissioner races, the winner will be determined after final results are posted from the primary election.
There are 127,032 registered voters in the county, according to the state Board of Elections. Of those, at, 63,517 (50%) are registered Republicans; 33,407 (26%) are registered Democrats; 27,997 (22%) are unaffiliated; and 2,111 (2%) are registered with other parties.
In early 2022, lawsuits regarding challenging a redistricted state legislative map passed by the General Assembly caused this year’s primary election date to be pushed back to July. New and new maps at the local levels could not be approved until the statewide lawsuits were decided. The resulting changes led to the delay in new map implementation, candidates who filed for in one district actually ended up running in another. It also took time for the county Board of Elections to assign residents to their new voting locations when districts were redrawn.
And it took longer to assign voters to precincts associated with relevant Carroll County districts.
In addition to statewide races, Carroll voters cast ballots for three seats on the county’s Board of Education, a nonpartisan race. The top six candidates will advance to the general election. The candidates are Candidates include incumbent Tara Battaglia, incumbent Patricia Dorsey, Amanda Jozkowski, James Miller, Pat Sands, Tom Scanlan, and Steve Whisler.
Only one of the five commissioner districts in Carroll County had a Democratic candidate. All the rest were Republican. All but one of the five Carroll commissioner districts have only Republican competitors. Zach Hands, 28, of Westminster, ran as a Democrat in commissioner District 3, which is in the central portion of the county. and includes the City of Westminster, includes has the sole Democrat in the race, Zach Hands, 28, of Westminster. He will face the winner of the Republican primary, either Marsha Herbert, 70, a current Board of Education member, or Tom Gordon, 46. Both also live in Westminster.
The other county race that will be decided in the primary is Carroll County State’s Attorney. Republicans David Ellin, 48, a medical malpractice attorney in private practice in Carroll, and Haven Shoemaker, 57, who represents District 5 in the Maryland General Assembly and is a former county commissioner, are competing for the at seat.
At Friendship Valley Elementary School in Westminster, a District 3 precinct, voting was steady Tuesday afternoon. Chief Election Judge Dawn Grammer said there were some lines to vote, but “everything is going good.”