Unofficial results for the November 2, 2021 municipal election for Mayor and two City of Gaithersburg Council Members have been announced.
In the race for Mayor, Jud Ashman received 3,650 votes (81.42%). Stephen Escobar received 833 votes (18.58%).
In the race for the two vacant City Council seats, the top two candidates were Lisa Henderson, who received 2,632 votes (30.73%) and Jim McNulty, who received 2,159 votes (25.21%). Yamil Hernández received 1,777 votes (20.75%), David Belgard received 1,274 votes (14.87%), and Phillip Cook received 723 votes (8.44%).
Mail-in ballots must have been deposited in ballot drop boxes or postmarked by November 2 for receipt at City Hall by November 4. Additionally, same-day voter registration was available for in-person voting, with voters casting provisional ballots pending approval. The BOSE will review mail-in and provisional ballots on November 9. Official results will be announced on November 10.
Once certified, the newly elected officials will be sworn in at a virtual Special Session of the Mayor and Council on Monday, November 15, at 7:30 p.m. They will each serve a four-year term. The meeting can be viewed live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter @GburgMD, and can be watched via Zoom with pre-registration here. The Meeting will also air live on the City’s cable TV channels, available countywide on Comcast 27, and within City limits on RCN 13 and Verizon FiOS 25.
As of November 2, 4,557 ballots were cast, 2,946 of them by mail and 1,611 at the polls. There are 36,592 registered voters in the City of Gaithersburg, for a preliminary voter turnout of 12.45%. Voter turnout in the 2019 City of Gaithersburg election for three City Council members was 6.54%. That was an uncontested election for three City Council Members.
For more information please contact Elections Clerk Lauren Klingler at 301-258-6310 or [email protected].
How to get a mail-in ballot for the November election
As an alternative to in-person voting at a polling center, Maryland voters can request a mail-in or absentee ballot. Any registered voter can request one, and no reason is needed.
To request a mail-in ballot, you can either apply online or mail in a paper application. The paper form is also available in Spanish.
If you want the ballot mailed to you, the deadline to request is Tuesday, October 27, 2020. If you want to print out a ballot from the Maryland Board of Elections’ website, the deadline is Friday, October 30, 2020.
To return your ballot, you can either deliver it to a polling place by 8pm on Election Day, or mail it. If you decide to mail it, it must be postmarked on or before November 3, 2020.
If you are not yet registered to vote and wish to participate in the general election, the deadline to register is October 13.
For more information on mail-in voting, check out Maryland Board of Elections’ FAQ page.
By Nyrene Monforte
During the June 1st City Council meeting, the City of Gaithersburg discussed a proposed amendment that would potentially change the voting age from 18 to 16 in city elections.
In 2013, Takoma Park became the first city in the United States to extend voting rights to 16 and 17 year olds for city elections.
For now this potential amendment is just a proposal and it was mentioned that such an amendment would require the city to maintain a supplemental voter registration process and list for the 16 and 17 year old voters to register since they’re too young to register in county and state elections.
BOSE has unanimously recommended denial of the amendment based on the confusion of maintaining two voter registration processes and the additional staff time it would require.
