Early voting ends with light turnout at polls, thousands of mail-in ballots so far

Most of the people who strolled in to the South County Senior Activity Center in Anne Arundel County Thursday morning were there for center activities, but some showed up to vote at the early voting center there, part of a light but steady turnout as a week of early voting wrapped up.

On the first seven days of early voting, more than 138,387 people cast their ballots, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections, nearly 3.8% of the 3.8 million eligible primary voters in the state. That’s up slightly from the first seven days during the 2022 gubernatorial election, when 125,384 turned out. The total for all eight days that year was 172,364.

The early in-person votes were in addition to almost 165,610 mail-in ballots that had been received by the Maryland State Board of Elections as of 6 p.m. Wednesday. Of the 33,495 ballots that had been accepted by then, nearly 26,000 came from Democratic voters.

Some candidates and volunteers at various polling locations throughout the state this week acknowledged voter turnout was low. That’s why the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland urges registered voters to cast their ballots.



https://marylandmatters.org/2026/06/19/early-voting-ends-with-light-turnout-at-polls-thousands-of-mail-in-ballots-so-far/