HAGERSTOWN – Washington County boasts 102,242 registered voters who have the opportunity to show their civic duty and participate in the 2024 election.
County officials report 16,096 mail-in ballots were sent out and as of October 31, 74.7 percent had been turned in to the local election board. Voters will have many options for representation on the school board, heavily contested Hagerstown City Council seats and a mayoral race with one actively campaigning candidate and potential write-ins.
A sample ballot on the election board’s webpage shows the national races, but also the race for United States Senate between Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, former popular GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, and Libertarian Mike Scott. Hogan was the first Republican elected governor in 70 years in the heavily Democratic state, so the race should test his continuing popularity against his Democratic opponent.
Back in Hagerstown, Steve Schutte announced he no longer was campaigning for mayor citing a new job requiring additional travel would limit his availability. This left Bill McIntire as the lone candidate with the potential for write-in candidates by voters.
Also in the City of Hagerstown, voters have their choice of four candidates for the City Council from a list of 10, including Kristin B. Aleshire, Caroline Anderson, Erika T. Bell, Mark Bell, Tiara R. Burnett, Sean Flaherty, Stacey L. Michael, Rich Owens, Peter E. Perini Sr. and Matthew J. Schindler.
The candidates for Washington County School Board include Victoria Beachley, Pieter Bickford, Charles A. Burket, Ashley McCusker, Robin Merchant Spickler, Stan Stouffer, Melissa Williams and April Ann Zentmeyer. Voters will select four people from this list of candidates.
Voters who will be going to the polls tomorrow may visit the Washington County Board of Elections webpage at www.washco-mdelections.org for information on what to expect. Elections officials said, “We now have 40 precinct polling places in 2024, so your polling place may have changed.” The site includes sample ballots, assigned polling places and information for first-time voters. No candidates are candidate representative are to be within 100 feet of polling locations.
