Maryland Polls closing at 9:30 due to weather

Posted by Jeff Quinton on February 12, 2008

Polls in Maryland’s primary were to stay open an extra 90 minutes statewide because icy weather created traffic gridlock in parts of the state, the state elections chief said Tuesday.

The polls were to close at 8 p.m., but voting was extended until 9:30 p.m.

[…]

State elections chief Linda Lamone said accidents were reported along U.S. 50 and Interstate 97 in central Maryland. Traffic on Interstate 95 in the Baltimore area moved very slowly.

“It’s gridlock,” Lamone said after receiving court approval to keep the polls open. “I mean, people can’t get anywhere, especially in the central part of the state.”

A drive from the state capital of Annapolis to Baltimore during the evening rush hour, which normally would take an hour, took 3½ hours Tuesday. A trip from Baltimore to the suburb of Columbia, normally a 30-minute commute, took 90 minutes.

Lamone said she asked for a court order from Anne Arundel County Judge Ronald A. Silkworth about 7 p.m., and he granted it about 10 minutes later.

Silkworth said in the order that he granted the state’s request after “having found that emergency circumstances have interfered and are continuing to interfere with the electoral process.” He also wrote that “action by this court is necessary to provide a remedy that is in the public interest and protects the integrity of the electoral process.”

Ballots cast during the extended 90 minutes will be provisional ballots, as required by federal law. That means people will vote on paper, the ballots will be put in an envelope and reviewed after the election. Those ballots won’t be counted until Tuesday, because Monday is a holiday, said Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator at the state elections board.

“As long as the order is not overturned, those votes will count,” Goldstein said.

I was coming home when 95 was backed up. We went the long away around 695 and over the Key Bridge but still had a slow go of it. That and running errands got me home to finish up liveblogging the primary results this late.

Other blogging of tonight’s results at Outside the Beltway and Michelle Malkin.