Democratic Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening's margin over Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey widened to exactly 6,000 votes yesterday, as every local elections board but Baltimore City's certified general election results as final.
But the GOP has not given up, as supporters of Mrs. Sauerbrey continued in their second day of copying thousands of pages of voter records in the city, in an effort to prove their unspecific allegations of voter fraud.
The near-final results have Mr. Glendening winning with 708,086 votes to Mrs. Sauerbrey's 702,086 -- despite the fact he carried only three of the state's 24 jurisdictions.
Those three, however, are the state's largest jurisdictions -- Baltimore City, Prince George's County, where Mr. Glendening is executive, and Montgomery County.
Baltimore County and Prince George's County certified their results yesterday afternoon, while Baltimore election officials worked into the evening, double-checking the city vote, hunched over desks covered with tally sheets and adding machine tapes.
The Baltimore elections board is scheduled to meet today at 12:30 p.m. to officially certify the city results, but little, if any, change is expected from figures released yesterday, said Gene M. Raynor, state elections administrator.
Those figures gave Mr. Glendening 114,022 votes to Mrs. Sauerbrey's 38,420 in the city.
The final step will be a meeting of the Board of State Canvassers -- which consists of the Maryland secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney general and clerk of the Court of Appeals -- which is scheduled for Dec. 7 in Annapolis. That group will formally certify the tallies from around the state, Mr. Raynor said.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore yesterday, teams of GOP volunteers, led by a Republican National Committee lawyer, continued copying the city's voter registration rolls -- the first step in a long and tedious process that Sauerbrey supporters say they expect to show voter fraud.
The Republicans got only as far as copying pages from precinct binders from the first nine of the city's 28 wards, with the bulk of the work ahead of them, said Barbara E. Jackson, the city elections administrator.
"They'll be here until, well, Santa Claus will be here," Ms. Jackson said.
"They're in for it," she said, referring to the sheer volume of material to be copied and analyzed.
"They really don't know what they're asking for, but I'm going to supply it."
The Republicans are working their way through nearly 500 binders that show all the voters registered in Baltimore's 408 precincts. After finishing with the binders, the Republicans intend to make photocopies of the 152,400 voting authority cards that voters signed before entering the voting booth Nov. 8.
From there, Sauerbrey supporters are planning to make copies of all of the original voter registration applications -- some of which are stored in a West Baltimore warehouse -- so that they can compare signatures on them with those on the authority cards used on Election Day.
That, they say, will turn up evidence of forgery and voter fraud -- enough to turn the election for Mrs. Sauerbrey.
Ms. Jackson pointed out that signatures change over the years and may be difficult to compare.
"I can pull registrations that I did 27 years ago, and my signature [as an elections official] is completely different than it is today," the elections administrator said.
If the Republicans find an indication of fraud -- which the volunteers have not yet been able to point to -- they will have 20 days from today, until Dec. 12, to challenge the city voting results, Ms. Jackson said.
As was true throughout the campaign, each side continued to snipe at the other yesterday.
Mr. Glendening called Mrs. Sauerbrey's refusal to concede "a little embarrassing for her and to the state."
Mrs. Sauerbrey's campaign shot back with a one-line statement faxed to reporters: "Everybody knows that turkeys weren't the only thing that was being stuffed in Baltimore City this month."
Current totals in gubernatorial election
!
Allegany County
Glendening last week -- 9,288
Sauerbrey last week -- 12,288
Glendening this week -- 9,292
Sauerbrey this week -- 12,388
Anne Arundel County
Glendening last week -- 54,882
Sauerbrey last week -- 83,599
Glendening this week -- 54,912
Sauerbrey this week -- 83,648
Baltimore City
Glendening last week -- 113,712
Sauerbrey last week -- 38,256
Glendening this week -- 114,022
Sauerbrey this week -- 38,420
Baltimore County
Glendening last week -- 102,216
Sauerbrey last week -- 134,698
Glendening this week -- 102,398
Sauerbrey this week -- 134,663
Calvert County
Glendening last week -- 7,348
Sauerbrey last week -- 11,430
Glendening this week -- 7,348
Sauerbrey this week -- 11,430
Caroline County
Glendening last week -- 2,233
Sauerbrey last week -- 4,522
Glendening this week -- 2,236
Sauerbrey this week -- 4,529
Carroll County
Glendening last week -- 12,304
Sauerbrey last week -- 31,775
Glendening this week -- 12,310
Sauerbrey this week -- 31,787
Cecil County
Glendening last week -- 6,803
Sauerbrey last week -- 12,013
Glendening this week -- 6,808
Sauerbrey this week -- 12,020
Charles County
Glendening last week -- 10,169
Sauerbrey last week -- 15,705
Glendening this week -- 10,074
Sauerbrey this week -- 15,737
Dorchester County
Glendening last week -- 3,428
Sauerbrey last week -- 5,316
Glendening this week -- 3,434
Sauerbrey this week -- 5,325
Frederick County
Glendening last week -- 17,020
Sauerbrey last week -- 30,986
Glendening this week -- 17,024
Sauerbrey this week -- 30,992
Garrett County
Glendening last week -- 1,860
Sauerbrey last week -- 6,267
Glendening this week -- 1,859
Sauerbrey this week -- 6,267
Harford County
Glendening last week -- 22,873
Sauerbrey last week -- 42,101
Glendening this week -- 22,884
Sauerbrey this week -- 42,124
Howard County
Glendening last week -- 34,098
Sauerbrey last week -- 39,335
Glendening this week -- 34,198
Sauerbrey this week -- 39,466
Kent County
Glendening last week -- 2,822
Sauerbrey last week -- 3,873
Glendening this week -- 2,822
Sauerbrey this week -- 3,873
Montgomery County
Glendening last week -- 148,609
Sauerbrey last week -- 104,756
Glendening this week -- 149,015
Sauerbrey this week -- 104,988
@Prince Georges County
Glendening last week -- 113,703
Sauerbrey last week -- 52,672
Glendening this week -- 114,256
Sauerbrey this week -- 52,855
Queen Anne's County
Glendening last week -- 3,988
Sauerbrey last week -- 7,442
Glendening this week -- 3,994
Sauerbrey this week -- 7,451
St. Mary's County
Glendening last week -- 7,893
Sauerbrey last week -- 11,133
Glendening this week -- 7,902
Sauerbrey this week -- 11,138
Somerset County
Glendening last week -- 2,324
Sauerbrey last week -- 3,996
Glendening this week -- 2,324
Sauerbrey this week -- 3,996
Talbot County
Glendening last week -- 3,743
Sauerbrey last week -- 7,187
Glendening this week -- 3,743
Sauerbrey this week -- 7,187
Washington County
Glendening last week -- 11,401
Sauerbrey last week -- 20,592
Glendening this week -- 11,405
Sauerbrey this week -- 20,598
Wicomico County
Glendening last week -- 8,760
Sauerbrey last week -- 12,924
Glendening this week -- 8,766
Sauerbrey this week -- 12,938
Worcester County
Glendening last week -- 5,054
Sauerbrey last week -- 8,260
Glendening this week -- 5,060
Sauerbrey this week -- 8,266
Total
Glendening last week -- 706,531
Sauerbrey last week -- 701,126
Glendening this week -- 708,086
Sauerbrey this week -- 702,086
Margin
Glendening last week -- 5,405
Glendening this week -- 6,000