More than two days after Election Day, the winner of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District remains too close to call as thousands of ballots have yet to be counted.
Democratic candidate April McClain-Delaney currently leads her Republican opponent Neil Parrott by a razor-thin margin of a little under 400 votes.
Inside a ballot canvassing center in Germantown, election workers swore an oath to the Constitution before they began counting.
“Credibility of the system requires that all the voters feel like their interests are being taken into consideration,” said David Naimon, president of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
The ballots are read through a scanner and can not have additional markings like coffee stains. When a ballot has additional markings, a bipartisan group of two will collaborate with each other and transfer a voter’s answers onto a new ballot.
“We've been at the office till 1 in the morning daily,” Gilberto Zelaya, a spokesperson for the county’s elections board said. “We are here to serve. This is one aspect of democracy. We invite the public to come here to observe in person. Especially if you don't understand the process, you'll learn a thing or two.”
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It is unclear how long counting ballots will take but the county has 14 days of canvassing left on the schedule.
