HAGERSTOWN, Md. (WDVM) — Maryland’s primary election this year is unlike any other.

It was originally scheduled for April but with the pandemic, Governor Larry Hogan moved it to June 2. With the schedule change came a whole new set of rules.

Ballots should have been mailed to all registered voters and they can be returned by mail or dropped in a designated ballot box, like the one at the Washington County Board of Elections office on West Washington Street in downtown Hagerstown. But if you decide to deliver it personally to the Board of Elections polling place on Virginia Avenue in Hagerstown, a polling station is in place.

Barry Jackson, Board of Elections Deputy Director said, “We’re prepared for a large crowd. We’re hoping that it won’t be all that large crowd because we may be able to handle about 3,000 people – anything more than that’s going to be difficult. There are going to be long lines because we’re only allowing so many people in the voting room at a time.”

And that room is the county’s only polling place Tuesday in Hagerstown at 17718 Virginia avenue. It will be staffed like polling places at all previous elections.

But according to county elections chief Kaye Rebucci, even though the weather is supposed to be nice she doesn’t know how many people to expect and voters should be prepared to be patient.

At stake in this primary election: nominating presidential candidates in both parties, who are pretty much already decided, though delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions are on the ballot. Voters will nominate candidates for the sixth congressional district and Hagerstown will choose a new mayor and council members. There’s an uncontested judicial seat in Washington County on the ballot too.

Usually on election day we know the results by bedtime. But with mail-in balloting this year it could take days.

If you drop you ballot in one of those designated drop boxes, you must do so by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

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