Voters cast their ballots inside the Silver Spring Civic Building in Montgomery County during the 2022 elections, as election workers stand by to help. File photo by Emmett Gartner/Capital News Service
By Caley Fox Shannon and Morgan Leason
As local election boards work around the clock to recruit and train workers before early voting starts this week, some Maryland counties are facing pressure to hire more Republican election judges.
Elections officials across the state told Capital News Service they are still working through the challenge of hiring an equal number of Republican and Democratic election judges, who administer the vote and then count ballots.
“Parity is something we always aspire to,” said David Garreis, Anne Arundel County election director. “But frequently what you’re gonna find is that the participation rates between the parties are very different.”
Under Maryland law, local boards of elections must make every effort to staff polling places with an equal number of judges who are registered Democrats and Republicans — although election judges who are not affiliated with either party can be used to make up the difference if officials can’t get an exact partisan match.