More News

Slow turnout was the trend at the polls through Tuesday afternoon as voters trickled in to cast ballots in the special general election to fill the vacant District 4 County Council seat.

"It looks like we're in for a long, slow day," said Marjorie Roher, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, said early in the morning. The pace had not picked up by mid-afternoon, she said.

No problems had been reported and everything seemed to be going smoothly, she said.

On the Democratic ticket is school board member Nancy Navarro of Silver Spring, who narrowly beat challenger Del. Benjamin Kramer (D-Dist. 19) in the special primary last month.

Realtor and tax-reform advocate Robin Ficker of Silver Spring is the Republican candidate, who handily defeated his closest challenger in the primary race.

Business consultant George Gluck of Rockville is the Green Party candidate and advanced directly to the general election.

The special election is being held to fill the seat left vacant by Councilman Don Praisner (D), who died Jan. 30. He won the seat in a special election last spring after his wife, longtime Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner (D), died that winter.

Even Leisure World in Aspen Hill, known as a powerhouse voting bloc, saw a small trickle of voters at both of its precincts in the morning.

Joan Billerbeck, chief Republican judge at Clubhouse 1, said 42 people had voted by 8:40 a.m. Polls opened at 7 a.m.

"It's probably about the same as the general election that was held to fill this position last year," she said. "It may be a little lighter."

Ficker and Navarro both arrived around 9 a.m. to greet the early voters.

Navarro, who had not yet cast her vote, called the past several weeks "intense," but worth all the hard work.

"It's been a very long process, but also a very important process — very positive and with a lot of dialogue," she said. "I'm glad it's coming to an end and then the other work begins."

Ficker said he was optimistic that the results would come back in his favor.

"I won't look upon this as a victory for myself; I'll look upon this as a victory for homeowners because they're the ones who have been underrepresented or unrepresented on the council," he said.

In a poll of 10 voters at Leisure World, six said they voted for Navarro, while Gluck and Ficker each received two votes.

Courtney Jones said he voted for Navarro because she seemed like the most qualified candidate.

"From what I've read in the papers, she looked like a logical choice to me," he said. "And I have friends who know her and they recommended her highly."

Doris Theurer said she cast her vote for Ficker because he "doesn't want to raise taxes."

"I don't think taxes need to be any higher in this county and that was my main reason for voting for him," she said.

Ruth Freitag and Shirley Tevelow, who both voted at Clubhouse 2, said they would like to see Gluck elected because of his views on the environment and his ability to act as a fresh voice on the council.

"He's an environmentalist and I think that's important," Freitag said. "I'd like to have him show interest in improving the Chesapeake Bay and cleaning up our rivers and streams."

By 10 a.m., 74 Democrats, 44 Republicans and five registered with other parties had voted at Clubhouse 2, where 3,000 voters are registered.

"People are coming in little by little," said Barbara Marcus, chief Democratic judge for Clubhouse 2. "It's just not that important of an election to them even though every election should be considered important."

At Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, Gene Mosbrucker, chief election judge, said turnout had been "terrible so far." At approximately 10 a.m., 30 people had cast their votes, including three poll workers.

"It was 40 minutes after we opened before the first person came," he said. "It's less than what we had at the primary; at this point it is very quiet."

At Sherwood Elementary School in Sandy Spring voter turnout was similar. Chief judge Zora Dugan said they were seeing an average of 11 voters an hour and reported that everything was running smoothly.

The story was similar at Rosa Parks Middle School in Olney, where only 18 voters had cast their ballots by 10:15 a.m., chief judge Pam Cole said.

Cole said a lot of voters seemed to be confused as to who was supposed to be voting, causing many who showed up to be turned away.

"We've had as many come in who aren't in this district as we did come in to vote," she said.

She said confusion may have come from the county's election Web site, which listed ZIP code 20832 as being within the district, although only portions of it are.

"Also, this building we are sitting in is not in the district," she said. "People ride by and see voting in their neighborhood and think they are supposed to be voting."

At Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Derwood, fewer than 20 ballots had been cast in the first two hours of voting, according to co-chief election judge Michael J. Morris. Turnout was slightly higher at Earle B. Wood Middle School in Aspen Hill, where co-chief election judge Theresa Phillips said nearly 50 voters had shown up by 10 a.m.

The early voter turnout at polling places in Kemp Mill also was lower for today's general election than last month's primary.

Election officials at Kemp Mill Elementary School said about 52 voters trickled in for the first three hours the polls were open — the morning "rush" usually brings a bigger crowd than that as people vote before they head off to work.

"This is the first time we didn't have anyone waiting at the door while we were opening," said chief judge Lita Katz.

The merger of two polling places produced an estimated 34 votes by 10 a.m. at the Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville.

This year, the county merged the community center polling place with the New Hope Korean Church polling place on McKnew Road. Turnout at the center was similar to last year, when about 101 people voted in the general election, said Karen Walker, precinct judge at the community center and a county elections official for 21 years.

At the community center, Manuel Alvarenga voted for Navarro because he thinks she will make it easier for immigrants and low-income residents to get loans and social services.

"She will concentrate on giving better access [for county services]," Alvarenga said.

Staff writers Robert Dongu and Terri Hogan also contributed to this report.