Published: November 04, 2008 05:21 pm      

Nearly 47 percent of Allegany County voters cast ballots by 3 p.m.

CUMBERLAND — Nearly 47 percent of registered voters in Allegany County cast ballots in today’s election between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., local election officials said.

District 12, or Mountain Ridge High School, was the busiest through the first eight hours of the day with 977 voters — or 49.6 percent of the district’s 1,967 active registered voters. The 977 figure, however, could include what Kitty Davis, administrator of the Allegany County Board of Elections, said are considered inactive voters.

A total of 19,816 Allegany County voters have gone to the polls today.

Davis said voter turnout in Allegany County could exceed 100 percent today if early trends continue through 8 p.m. when polls close. It’s unlikely, she said, but possible because voter registration totals include only active registered voters.

“Inactive voters can vote,” Davis said. “It’s going to look real good, I think,” she said early Tuesday afternoon.

The LaVale Volunteer Fire Department, District 29 Precinct 1, was the second busiest precinct so far with 901 voters passing through the doors. St. Luke’s Lutheran Church on Frederick Street was third with 885 voters.

Garrett County voter turnout is trailing slightly. A total of 7,893 voters, or 43.6 percent of the county’s 18,100 active registered voters, have made their selections as of 3 p.m. That’s up from 27 percent just four hours earlier.

“It’s higher than normal,” said Carmen Tressler of the Garrett County elections office. But figures from previous presidential elections were unavailable by which to compare today’s numbers.

There have been at least two claims of inappropriate material being distributed or otherwise available inside polling places in Maryland’s two westernmost counties.

Ken Winters, manager of the Republican Club of Allegany County on Baltimore Street, said a voter notified him earlier today about political materials, including bumper stickers, for Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Jennifer Dougherty at District 22, or Local 489 Training Center at 2 Park St. in Cumberland.

“He said he saw an information table inside where the people vote,” Winters said, “information on Obama and Jennifer. When I got to (club headquarters), another volunteer and I went up there and found” the same material “in direct violation of the law.”

“I informed the manager it was illegal,” Winters said. “He said he would throw them away. Instead, he gave them to an assistant and told him to put them in his office.”

Winters said he called the toll-free number, 866-976-VOTE, a hotline to report “instances of irregularities at the polls, including voter fraud, intimidation, violence and electioneering.”

When contacted initially, Davis said her officer had not received any complaints and “would find it highly unlikely” such issues were a concern in Allegany County.

“First, the judges there, who are bipartisan, would not permit it,” Davis said. “Second, members of the Board (of Elections) have been there three times so far today checking for just such infractions and have reported nothing.”

Shortly afterward, however, Davis said she’d been in touch with District 22 and “they did indeed” find a Obama bumper sticker or stickers “behind shirts for sale” at 11:45 a.m.

Those bumper stickers were thrown out, she said.

An information card from the Garrett County Health Department was available to voters at The Elbow at the Savage Mountain Youth Center in Garrett County. The card, targeted to women ages 40 to 64, indicated a “free breast and cervical cancer program” for which the health department needs patients.

Tressler said those cards are legal.

“What we don’t allow in polling places is electioneering and swaying people’s votes one way or another,” she said.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.