I did not think of “every vote counts” very much before. Now it comes to us so closely. There are three important, very very close races in the 2018 Primary Election in Maryland. This is an eye-opening moment.

1. Howard County Council District 1, Democratic Candidate Race
   1. Liz Walsh (3173 votes) led Jon Weinstein (3171 votes) by 2 votes
   2. absentee/provisional vote: Liz: 125, Jon 82
   3. There is a 0.054% difference
2. Baltimore County Executive, Democratic Candidate Race
   1. John “Johnny O” Olszewski ( 27804) led Jim Brochin (27795) by 9 votes
   2. absentee/provisional vote: John: 953, Jim 1290
   3. There is a 0.032% difference.
   4. The primary race winner will be the next county executive since Baltimore County is highly blue.
3. Montgomery County Executive, Democratic Candidate Race
   1. Marc Elrich (37529) led David Blair (37449) by 80 votes.
   2. absentee/provisional vote: Marc: 2629, David 3041
   3. There is a 0.21% difference.  This difference is a little larger and Blair has difficulty to flip the race.
   4. The primary race winner will be the next county executive since Montgomery County is deep blue.

Now everything comes to the absentee/provisional votes. Invalidating/validating votes will take some time. The candidates probably need/will hire election lawyers to sit there side by side.