Carroll County's 1,512 returned absentee ballot were counted last night, and they did not change the results of any of the races in Tuesday's election.
Addition of the ballots to the total raised the official voter response to 68.9 percent. Of 64,452 registered voters in Carroll County, 44,426 cast ballots in the general election.
The additional votes did not dislodge Gary W. Bauer from his hold on a school board seat. He and incumbent Carolyn Scott won the two seats. Mr. Bauer edged out Laura Albers and Carole Pecoraro.
Because of the exceptionally tight gubernatorial race, and because Carroll was the first jurisdiction to count its absentee ballots, television news crews from Baltimore went to the Winchester Building in Westminster where the elections supervisors were feeding the absentee ballots into the counting machines.
Snippets from Election Day:
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The only problem that election judges reported encountering with the new voting system was marks bleeding through the ballots when voters pressed too hard while connecting the arrows. In those cases, the machine thought the voter had selected too many candidates and rejected the ballot.
Election judges encouraged the voters to fill out another ballot.
"They should just do one line, not go back and forth," said Julie Denning, an election judge in New Windsor.
"We've been telling them not to do it real dark and that's been cutting down on the number of spoiled ballots."
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Tula Lefteris, a judge at the fifth precinct in Westminster West Middle School, said voters seemed to have adjusted to the new machines. She reported only a few errors, usually over votes.
Those who make a mistake are allowed two more tries to get it right.
"Nobody has had to try more than twice," she said.
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Election judges in New Windsor and Union Bridge said their high turnouts, much higher than in the primary, had to do with more than the sun and mild temperatures.
"We always have a good turnout for the general election," said Vivian Nusbaum at the Union Bridge poll.
"I don't know that it's the weather. It's everyone thinking they're going to make a difference.
"Then we run home and see who's really winning."
In one case, Ms. Nusbaum said, she was sure the woman was a first-time voter.
"She came up and asked us if we had any suggestions," Ms. Nusbaum said.
"I've never had anyone ask me that before."
On the whole, voters seemed pleased with the new system, said Julie Denning.
"They say 'Ooh, is that it?' " she said. "Then the machine makes its cheery sound when it accepts [the ballot]. I haven't heard any thing bad about [the system]."
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Incumbent State's Attorney Thomas E. Hickman, a write-in candidate, sat alone on the blacktop parking lot at West Middle School. He sipped coffee as his supporters handed out campaign literature and instructions for writing in a vote to those entering the polls.
Each ballot cover also had write-in instructions on the bottom.