Canvassing of mail-in ballots to begin after Maryland primary election
BALTIMORE -- The polls are closed in Maryland's 2024 primary election, now the counting begins for mail-in and provisional ballots.
The effort, called canvassing, starts at 10 a.m. Thursday, and it is vital to some races too close to call.
How canvassing works
The local boards of elections employees meet as the "local board of canvassers" to review and count mail-in ballots and provisional ballots. Teams of two review the ballots.
Each team is given a batch of ballots. They will verify that each mail-in ballot in the batch was mailed and received by the deadline and the voter signed the oath.
If the voter's intent is clear, the ballot is counted.
If the teams cannot understand the ballot, the local board will review it to fill out a fresh ballot so the voters' choices can be counted.
How to see the canvassing process
The canvassing process is something you can see for yourself.
You will be asked to sign in and follow certain rules, like no distractions and no touching the ballots, to observe all canvasses. You can observe the canvassing teams review and open mail-in ballot envelopes and open provisional ballot applications.
The mail-in ballot canvassing will go on for the rest of this week, and every day, the board will update the results.
Provisional ballot canvassing begins next Wednesday.
If more days are needed, the board will announce those new dates.