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Only 78 votes separate District 4 County Council candidates Nancy Navarro and Benjamin Kramer and with hundreds of absentee and provisional ballots from Tuesday's special primary to count, the Democratic nomination for the seat is still up for grabs.
"I think we're going to have to wait another day or two to see [who wins]," Kramer said today.
Navarro, 43, a member and past president of the county school board, garnered 44.5 percent of the votes, tallying 3,557 out of 7,987 votes in the Democratic primary. Kramer, a Derwood resident, trailed with 43.5 percent and 3,479 votes.
The county Board of Elections issued 1,195 absentee ballots for the primary. As of this morning, 773 had been received. There were also 86 provisional ballots issued to residents whose names were not in the voter registration database when they went to cast their votes Tuesday.
State law requires that the election certification process begin the second Friday after the election, which is May 1, said Marjorie Roher, spokeswoman for the Board of Elections.
Once certification is complete, results are sent to the state Board of Elections, which will finalize the vote. Roher said that should happen by May 4 or 5.
"It normally doesn't take very long," said Roher, who has been with the board since 2002. "Once the state certifies the vote, it's official."
A recount is possible
But that still doesn't mean the primary is settled. The losing candidate could request a recount. Roher said the board would be able to print the face of ballots cast on the county's Diebold touch-screen voting machines for another count.
Roher said there hasn't been a recount requested since she's been with the board.
Kramer said he has not given any thought to challenging the vote with a recount, but added he will remain optimistic while he waits.
"I wouldn't change a thing about the campaign we ran," Kramer said. "It was upbeat, positive and focused on the issues."
Navarro did not return several calls placed today.
Ficker takes Republican nomination
While questions remain about which Democrat will win its party's nomination, the Republican nomination appears to be settled.
Robin Ficker, 65, a real estate broker and traffic and criminal attorney, received about two times as many votes as his closest challenger, Louis "Lou" August, 50, an entrepreneur and nonprofit organization executive from Silver Spring.
According to unofficial results, Ficker received about 58 percent of the vote with 1,187 votes out of 2,050 cast in 45 precincts, while August received at about 28 percent and 571 votes.
Ficker said District 4 homeowners were the real winners of the Republican primary and he is ready to begin fighting for them.
"I really think homeowners are letting the county know they want to be heard in government and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," he said.
He said the Democratic race between Navarro and Kramer will be a tight one.
"Just looking at it clinically, I think Mr. Kramer is going to have to win 58 percent of the absentee votes and that's going to be a difficult thing for him to do," Ficker said. "I think the math shows that Ms. Navarro will win."
Ficker will vie for the District 4 seat against the winner of the Democratic primary. Ficker said he will resume campaigning this afternoon and planned to go to the Glenmont Metro station to meet District 4 residents. He also said he would like to challenge the Democratic winner to a series of debates in advance of the general election on May 19.
Appointment process in Democratic victory
If Ficker were to lose the general election, an appointment process would begin to fill either Kramer's District 19 seat in the Maryland General Assembly or Navarro's District 5 seat on the county Board of Education.
If Kramer wins, the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee would begin an appointment process to replace him within 29 days of Kramer leaving office, said Milton Minneman, the committee's communications director.
A public notice would be sent out asking for potential candidates to send resumes to the committee. The committee would review the resumes to determine who is eligible. A candidate must be a registered Democrat, at least age 25 and reside in the legislative district, in this case District 19.
The central committee would invite the qualified applicants to address the 23 voting members on June 9. After interviewing the candidates, the committee would vote for one in a secret ballot, the results of which would then be announced live, Minneman said.
The process would eliminate those receiving the fewest number of votes and voting would continue with the remaining candidates until one receives a majority of 12 votes, Minneman said.
"We don't want to ever have a person elected by just winning out over a few others," said Minneman, who is a voting member of the committee. The central committee election would be open to the public, he said.
Minneman said there are usually between three and 10 candidates for state delegate replacements. Central committee members are permitted to run as candidates and still be eligible voters. Minneman said because the voting is secret, it is still a fair election even when committee members run.
But political commentator Blair Lee said a special election is still the best process because it allows "the people affected by the vacancy to fill the vacancy."
"The central committee is elected by the people," Lee continued. "But can you name five people on the central committee?
"… It's no more representative of the people of Montgomery County than if you picked 15 people out of the phone book," he added.
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) would then decide on the appointment. Minneman said that usually takes less than a month. The governor has never rejected a candidate nominated by the committee, he added. The candidate is then sworn in by the speaker of the House of Delegates.
If Navarro were to win, five candidates would apply to fill out the remainder of her term, which ends in 2010. The candidates would go before the Board of Education for interviews and the board would vote for a candidate. No other appointment is necessary.
The special primary was held to nominate candidates for the special general election to fill the council seat left vacant by the Jan. 30 death of Don Praisner (D). Under county code, a special election must be held to fill council seats when more than one year remains of a council member's tenure.
Praisner had won the seat in a special election last year after his wife, longtime Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner (D), died that February. He edged out Navarro with 44 percent and 3,288 votes. Navarro trailed with 39 percent and 2,940 votes.
The regular election to fill all of the council seats will be held November 2010.
Don Praisner of Calverton requested that the council appoint a replacement to finish the remainder of his term instead of spending money on another special election. A special election held after Marilyn Praisner's death cost about $1.4 million, according to information provided by the county Board of Elections.
County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who prompted Praisner to run for the council seat after his wife's death and who is a District 4 resident, told The Gazette in February that he favored an appointment.
Candidates react to results
Cary Lamari, former Montgomery County Civic Federation president and a Norbeck resident, came in third place with 8.6 percent of the Democratic votes. He said he thought the entire District 4 race had a "negative" tone.
"I just think it moved away from the issues and on to other things," he said.
He said he thinks Navarro did a good job of appealing to the county's minority community and capturing their votes.
"In the end, it was the community who spoke and I think that's a positive message," Lamari said. "They said, ‘We are a majority-minority community and we want to be recognized.'"
He said he may consider another run for the County Council in 2010, but wants to take some time to think it over.
August said he was disappointed but not surprised by the number of votes Ficker received.
"I knew I had a high hurdle to stride, but I wanted to try," he said.
August said he also thinks Ficker benefitted from having "a lot of name recognition in the county."
"But whichever Republican candidate prevails, and it looks like it's going to be Robin, will have my support in the general election," he said.
August added Navarro and Kramer are two "solid candidates" and was not at all shocked by the tight race.
"That's probably no surprise to anyone," he said. "We all knew they were going to be neck and neck."
He said he had thought Lamari would capture more votes on the Democratic side because he is well-known in the community and a "real people person."
"Whatever happens, the county will have some great folks to pick from on either side," he said.
Like Lamari, August said he would need to take some time to think about if he wants to run in the next County Council election.
Unofficial Dist. 4 primary results
Number of registered voters: 96,524; number of ballots cast: 10,085 or 10.45 percent
Democratic Votes received……..Percentage of vote
Nancy Navarro 3,557 44.53%
Benjamin F. Kramer 3,479 43.56%
Cary Lamari 690 8.64%
Robert Goldman 104 1.30%
Thomas Hardman 99 1.24%
Michael L. Bigler 58 0.73%
Republican Votes received……..Percentage of vote
Robin Ficker 1,187 57.90%
Louis August 571 27.85%
Andrew L. Padulla 292 14.24%
