BALTIMORE — Baltimore City Elections Director Armstead Jones said Thursday he doesn’t think the Board of Elections will meet the state’s mandatory deadline to certify the 2024 presidential election.
All local election boards are required to report general election results to the State Board of Elections by November 15. This is the second Friday after the election, according to the election board website.
“We’re going to have a challenge getting this process of certifying the elections completed,” Jones said during a TikTok video for The Sun at the city’s election warehouse. “I know we won’t meet the mandate date for this. That is something we need to discuss with the state.”
Jones cited a historic volume of mail-in ballots as one reason. According to the latest update on the State Board of Elections website, Baltimore City could collect as many as 51,000 remaining mail-in ballots if the majority of requested mail-in ballots are returned. “We are in the process of scanning ballots that have been received by mail,” Jones said. “There are more than we’ve ever had. The number of votes in the city was very high.”
He added: “There have been quite a few provisional ballots cast that need to be checked to ensure the person is eligible to vote and did not vote for a regular ballot.”
After local election boards certify their results, the state must meet its own certification deadline: 30 days after an election. According to their website, the state board must approve Maryland’s election by December 5.
In an effort to get more information about the possibility of a delayed certification, The Sun contacted Jones, who said through an office worker that he thinks it will be difficult to meet the deadline, but he is working to meet it . Jones did not respond to follow-up questions sent via email.
Attempts to reach the state board about whether they are granting certification extensions went unanswered.
Hundreds of thousands of ballots remain to be processed and counted across the state.
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