ANNAPOLIS (October 30, 2024)—As local election boards work around the clock to recruit and train workers before early voting starts next 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," David Garreis, Anne Arundel County election director, told CNS. "But frequently what you're gonna find is that the participation rates between the parties are very different."
By 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. That's what Garreis and other local election officials tell CNS they are working on now.
But officials in some counties aren't offering their recruitment numbers or providing updates to the public – even in the face of concerns from local Republicans who say they'd like to volunteer but can't seem to get a foot in the door.
"I think they're not being fair with me, and they're not being transparent about the situation," said Shawn Poulson, a Kent County Republican and former local party official who says his application to serve as a judge was sidelined by his local board.
CNS spoke with non-partisan election officials, party leaders and would-be Republican judges in multiple counties to understand this issue, which has elevated the conversation about election integrity in Maryland.
TALBOT COUNTY
In an Oct. 1 letter to the local board of elections, Talbot County Sheriff Joseph Gamble said he had received 25 complaints from citizens over the uneven party distribution of election judges.
Among those complaints, Gamble said, were several Republicans who wanted to serve but were instead placed on standby and told that there were no vacancies at the time. Elections aren't under Gamble's purview as sheriff, but he told CNS he was weighing in due to the high volume of complaints he had received.
Jared DeMarinis, the state administrator of elections, quickly tried to reassure the public in a press release following Gamble's letter.
"An election judge's partisan affiliation does not impact or determine the outcome of the election," he wrote. "Voters decide the outcomes of elections."
DeMarinis could not be reached for comment on this story. But the head of the local board said the numbers are getting pretty close to even.
Tammy Stafford, Talbot County's election director, told CNS this week that she has hired 124 election judges, including 61 Democrats, 53 Republicans and 10 unaffiliated judges. She emphasized that these numbers are subject to change.
Stafford said that 106 of the election judges in her county are returning after having worked in the primary. She said her office continues to take applications from interested voters, but as of now, the 10 polling places across Talbot County are fully staffed.
KENT COUNTY
Poulson, 47, of Worton, told CNS that he applied to be a Republican election judge in Kent County and was placed on a standby list instead of being assigned to a polling place.
Poulson previously served as an election judge and was chair of the Kent County Republican Central Committee. After stepping down from the committee this spring, Poulson said he immediately applied to be an election judge. He said he wanted to be a chief judge – one of the two judges who run a polling place and manage other judges.
Instead, Poulson was disappointed to receive a letter last month stating he was assigned as a standby judge. Poulson said he is not aware of an update from Kent County Election Director Cheemoandia Blake.
Blake declined to speak with CNS or provide an update on the number of election judges hired in Kent County by party.
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
Garreis said his team is working tirelessly to recruit judges through events at churches and schools as well as by direct mail and social media. These efforts include partnership with both the Democratic and Republican Central Committees in Anne Arundel County.
"With our election judges, usually the first qualification is, do you have a pulse?" Garreis said.
"Because it's usually very hard to find election judges. The only reason that we would really turn someone away is if they are at a precinct and we've already filled all the spots at the precinct."
Garreis said he has hired more than 2,100 judges so far and needs to hire roughly 400 more. Of those judges, more than half are Democrats, just over a quarter are Republicans, and the rest are unaffiliated.
Registered voters need to attend a three-hour training session in person before they can serve as an election judge.
CALVERT COUNTY
Kristen Scott, deputy elections administrator in Calvert County, told CNS she has recruited 368 election judges: 181 Democrats, 140 Republicans and 47 unaffiliated. She said the uneven party split should not be of concern to voters.
"The one thing that we really do stress to our election judges is that this is a nonpartisan position," Scott said. "When you're in that polling place, there's no political talk. It's very nonpartisan, and you're there to serve the voter, whatever party it is."
Like Garreis, Scott said she doesn't immediately turn away judges, but places them on a standby list. In the event that someone cannot serve, she can replace those individuals with Republicans on standby. She said she prioritizes parity on a precinct level.
Scott said that voters can also be poll watchers. Watchers, sometimes called "challengers," register with their party and are approved to be onsite at precincts to watch election judges. Watchers are unpaid and do not interact with voters or make decisions regarding the vote, but they can report misconduct or other concerns.
CECIL COUNTY
Gary Holmes, Cecil County's election director, told CNS he has fully staffed his precincts, hiring approximately 150 Republicans, 140 Democrats and 46 judges who are unaffiliated or third-party.
Although President Joe Biden won Maryland in the 2020 general election, voters in Cecil County overwhelmingly favored Donald Trump.
Holmes said that when he attends training sessions, he tells prospective election judges, "You're not here to be political. You're not here to express an opinion."
Holmes said that his team is proactively fighting misinformation about the election, sharing proper links through social media and directing citizens to the state's election rumor-tracking page.
Holmes said that the state's rigorous system of checks and balances ensures that the vote is secure.
"We don't care who you vote for as long as you get the chance to vote, and we can assure you that we're very particular about how these records are being kept," he said.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Gilberto Zelaya, public relations officer at the Montgomery County Board of Elections, told CNS that he couldn't say how parity is shaping up between Democrats and Republicans because his team is still in the thick of recruiting.
To hire between 3,500 and 4,000 election judges, Zelaya said, his team holds an average of 500 events annually. Zelaya said he works closely with both parties and has held at least four meet-and-greet events this year at the local GOP office in Rockville.
Stacey Sauter, vice chair of the Montgomery County GOP, also plays a role in voter education and election judge recruitment.
"It's an overwhelming task for the board of elections," Sauter told CNS. "And what I have witnessed so far is what they do is very fair and balanced, but they are the apparatus. You cannot control what happens with the people when they go to work at the polls."
Sauter has run for office as a Republican and previously served as an election judge. Sauter said she has witnessed some things she thinks call for better training. She said she once saw a woman check in to vote who was unable to speak the language or fill out the ballot.
"The question was, is this somebody who is eligible to vote?" Sauter said. "Those are the kinds of things where you could find some kind of debate or discussion on the floor, and you would want to make sure that you had a Republican and a Democrat there to be able to sort it out in an official way."
Some election watchers see this as a troubling trend. Kate Sullivan is a member of the advocacy group Maryland Election Integrity. The group is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the State Board of Elections for what they say is a failure to maintain voter roles and use secure voting systems.
"We have great concerns about the [local boards of elections] following the letter of the law," Sullivan told CNS. "The parity requirement is in service of ensuring neither party feel disenfranchised during an election."
Sullivan's case against the state was dismissed on standing by a U.S. district court judge in May and Sullivan said an appeal hearing is scheduled for December.