Nov 6, 2008 11:10 pm US/Eastern
25,000 Absentee Ballots May Decide Md. House Race
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Election officials in 12 counties will start counting absentee ballots Thursday in the close race in Maryland's 1st Congressional District.
CBS
It's one of the few undecided races left in the entire country, and it's right in our backyard.
Kai Jackson reports it's now down to counting the absentee and provisional ballots in Maryland's 1st Congressional District. All Democrat Frank Kratovil and Republican Andy Harris can do is wait.
Kratovil and Harris had a long and hard fought battle for Maryland's 1st District Congressional seat. It's a fight that more or less is still being waged because no winner has been declared.
Republican voters chanted outside of the Harford County Board of Elections saying they're angry over Democrats challenging absentee ballots in the ongoing battle for the 1st District House seat between Harris and Kratovil.
"Kratovil, obviously, wants to win this race, and he's going to do it however he can, and it means disqualifying, disenfranchising the people of Harford County," said Sen. Nancy Jacobs.
"Making sure that every vote is counted and that the integrity of the ballots is protected is in no way disenfranchising. We want to make sure that the most votes get counted as possible," said Kevin Lawlor, Kratovil campaign.
Kratovil had a lead over Harris after the election, but the absentee ballots are now worth their weight in gold and could possibly narrow the gap.
Each brings one of the candidates closer to a congressional seat. It's an important race which could help decide the balance of power in Washington.
Concern also arose in Harford County over whether privacy seals were broken before they should have been on batches of those absentee ballots.
Monitors in other counties have been reviewing the tedious process.
"If we find there's anything that could appear to be wrong with the ballot, then the board meets, all three board members meet, and we then determine if that ballot has been compromised," said Karen Henley, Baltimore Co. Board of Elections.
Chris Meekins, Andy Harris's campaign manager, tells
Eyewitness News all the counting has been done for the day. He estimates Frank Kratovil is leading Harris by about 2,000 votes with roughly 7,000 absentee ballots still to count.
There are still provisional and overseas ballots that have to be counted. If the absentee ballots don't determine a winner, those ballots will be the deciding factor.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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