With 39 of 45 precincts reporting early Tuesday evening, Democrat Donald Praisner held the lead over Nancy Navarro in the special primary election for the Montgomery County Council District 4 seat.
Mark Fennel led the Republican race by 153 votes over challenger John McKinnis.
Praisner, 75, a Calverton resident and retired CIA analyst, held a 223-vote lead over Navarro, 42, the county school board president and a Silver Spring resident. He is trying to win the seat held by his wife, Marilyn J. Praisner, who died after complications from heart surgery on Feb. 1. Marilyn Praisner was in her fifth term on the council.
Donald Praisner said he would only serve the remainder of his wife’s term and continue her legacy by advocating for controlled development and strict fiscal policies.
Navarro, who was born in Venezuela, campaigned as an advocate for minorities and education initiatives, and had received the backing of many labor organizations. She has said she supports a balanced approach to development that would work with business and labor interests.
Fennel, 42, is a marketing analyst from Silver Spring. McKinnis, 33, is an information technology business owner and lives in Calverton.
Fennel, who was the 2006 Republican nominee for the District 4 seat and is director of the nonprofit group Citizens Against Government Waste, has made property taxes a focus of his campaign, and he has said he will vote against tax increases.
District 4, which includes parts of Burtonsville, Silver Spring, Cloverly, Colesville, Wheaton, Aspen Hill, Olney, Sandy Spring and Ashton, as well as the retirement communities Leisure World and Riderwood Village, is slightly older, less affluent and more diverse than other parts of the county.
Community leaders who hosted forums had asked candidates to bring more resources to their east county communities, which some residents say have been overlooked in past years.
The next District 4 representative, however, could play a crucial swing vote on the nine-member council on matters that affect the entire county, such as the pace of development and strategies for combating a $297 million budget deficit.
Absentee ballots are scheduled to be counted on Thursday and provisional ballots on Monday, said Margie Roher of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. A total of 367 absentee ballots are out, she said.
Roher said precincts throughout the district reported low voter turnout in the morning.
‘‘It seems to be a real slow day,” she said, adding, ‘‘This is not a typical election day for us in that the schools are open, so in some cases I think there was some confusion with voters trying to get to polling places.”
Roher said there was a single report of a voting machine that was shut down because voters had to select their candidate several times before the vote was counted correctly. As of 4 p.m., there were no other irregularities reported, she said.
Jerrold Garson, a member of the county Board of Elections, said he had been visiting voting sites all day and most had low turnouts.
An official turnout report from Greencastle Elementary School showed that of the 1,685 Democrats registered to vote there, only 26 had voted by 3 p.m.; of the 365 Republicans, only 3 voted.
‘‘I liked what his wife was doing in terms of keeping the county in line,” said Calverton resident Laura Day, 59, who voted for Praisner. ‘‘Marilyn served this county very well and I think Don would, too.”
Ursula Scott, 60, said she voted for Praisner because she agreed with his slow growth support and opposition to the Intercounty Connector.
‘‘I know the Praisners,” said Jeff Karns, 55, a Calverton resident, ‘‘and I know he was Marilyn’s chief adviser, and I liked what she did.”
Navarro supporters said they were looking for a candidate with experience who would bring more diversity to the council.
Oitin Martin, 55, said she voted for Navarro because she has a son in high school and education was an important issue for her.
‘‘I looked at the information [Navarro] sent and she has a lot about education and improving the schools,” said Martin, a Silver Spring resident who voted at White Oak Middle School.
With such potentially high stakes, several county officials lined up behind the Democratic frontrunners. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and four council members, Phillip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac, Marc Elrich (D-At large) of Takoma Park and Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda, all endorsed Praisner.
Navarro won the backing of Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring, as well as the reported support of schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, who was said to have called union leaders to his North Potomac home Feb. 29 and asked them to back Navarro, according to people who attended the meeting. Elrich and other officials criticized the meeting, about which Weast has declined to comment.
