Cecil and Harford Counties to vote in key race Tuesday
Primary election day is Tuesday in Harford and Cecil counties, where there are enough interesting local contests to draw the attention of voters who might normally be tempted to stay home and wait for November.
In Western Cecil, including Perryville and Port Deposit, the primaries for the area’s county commissioner and House of Delegate seats have nearly full draws, even though veteran incumbents are seeking re-election in both.
In Southeastern Harford, two incumbent delegates have challengers in both parties, while Havre de Grace’s David Craig is expected to cement his hold on another term as county executive.
Races for the Republican Central Committees in both counties feature efforts by members of the Tea Party movement to capture control of local party leadership.
There’s a hotly fought race in Harford for the Republican nomination for sheriff, while Cecil Sheriff Barry Janney Sr. has a primary battle before he can try to secure another term in November.
Cecil County has 59,337 registered voters for the primary — 26,770 registered Democratic and 24,832 registered Republican. There are also 13,907 registered as something other than the two major parties. The county has 19 polling sites.
In Harford County, Tuesday marks the first county election in history in which the number of registered Republican voters is higher than registered Democrats.
There are 148,368 people registered in Harford County — 62,470 Republicans and 62,154 Democrats, a difference of 316. Another 22,231 Harford voters are unaffiliated, and 1,513 either belong to one of Maryland’s three recognized third parties — Constitutional, Liberty and Green — or are registered as “other.”
There are 73 voting locations for the primary in Harford, including seven new ones: Joppatowne Elementary, Edgewood Recreation and Community Center, Highlands School, Ring Factory Elementary, Meadowvale Elementary, Havre de Grace Middle and Roye-Williams Elementary.
Polls in both counties are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Early voting was available for the first time in this election. Polling places in Elkton and Bel Air were open last Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
State Board of Elections figures showed just over 1,000 people had voted early in Cecil through Wednesday evening.
Harford elections figures said they had more than 3,200 early voters as of noon Thursday, with eight hours still to go before early voting for the primary ended.
Harford races
In the Harford County executive race, which is historic in not offering up any Democratic candidates for the first time, incumbent David Craig has two challengers in Tuesday’s Republican primary: former council president Rob Wagner and Fred Silva.
Craig’s campaign has raised nearly $600,000 — tens of thousands of dollars more than his two challengers put together.
Wagner has garnered some support from the local Tea Party movement, while Silva, who has had no previous political success, is not considered a serious player.
It’s expected the winner between Craig and Wagner on Tuesday will be the next county executive come November.
Though Constitution Party candidate Mark Fisher will be on the Nov. 2 general election ballot for county executive, he’s given a scant chance of winning.
There are no primary contests for the two county council seats representing the Aberdeen and Havre de Grace areas.
District E Aberdeen area Councilman Dick Slutzky, a Republican, does not have any opponent in his bid for a third time.
In Havre de Grace area District F, neither incumbent Democrat Mary Ann Lisanti nor Republican challenger Sheryl Davis-Kohl has primary opposition. They’ll meet in the general election.
Cecil races
Four candidates are running in the staggered-term race for the District 4 seat on the board of county commissioners.
There are seven voting locations for residents in District 4, which are available online at http://www.ccgov.org.
Incumbent Wayne Tome Sr., a Democrat from Port Deposit, is seeking a second term. He is opposed in the Democratic primary by retired Cecil Schools superintendent Carl Roberts of Perryville.
In the Republican primary, Diana Broomall, of Perryville, is running against Mike Dawson from Rising Sun for the nomination.
In the Democratic primary for sheriff, Robert Skip Dewitt, of Chesapeake City, is up against William Gerczak, of Rising Sun, and Chris Sutton, of Elkton.
The incumbent sheriff, Janney, is opposed in the Republican primary by Al Michael and Dan Slater.
Legislative races
There is a race for the Democratic nomination for State Senate in District 34, which covers Western Cecil County and the Route 40 corridor of Harford County including Havre de Grace and Aberdeen. Former senator Art Helton is pitted against Rovall Washington.
Awaiting the Democratic nominee is three-term Sen. Nancy Jacobs, who has no opponent in the GOP primary and is very popular in the Cecil portion of the district.
In the race for two House of Delegates seats in District 34A in Harford, incumbent Democrats Mary-Dulany James and Dan Riley have a single challenger from their party, Marla Posey-Moss.
The four-way GOP 34A primary involves Patrick McGrady, Randolph Craig, John Paff Jr. and Glen Glass.
In District 34B on the Cecil side of the Susquehanna, incumbent Democrat David Rudolph is seeking a fifth term. He’s opposed in the primary by Joe Janusz.
Republican Theodore Patterson doesn’t have primary opposition.
Michael Dawson, a member of the Constitution Party, will compete in the general election against Patterson and the winner of the Rudolph-Janusz race.
Cecil County Examiner 