Montgomery County Board of Elections finished counting election ballots and then certified the results from the May 14 primary election Friday at 8 p.m.
Most of the results have been known, but as mail in and provisional ballots were counted, the race for three seats on the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) remained close.
BOE member Rebecca Smondrowski failed in her bid for reelection, coming in third in a field of five candidates in District 2. Incumbent Lynne Harris gained the most votes in the At Large race while incumbent Shebra Evans placed second in District 4.
📣 ATTENTION MONTGOMERY!
📰 MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS CERTIFIES 2024 PRIMARY ELECTION RETURNS, ITS EARLIEST CERTIFICATION IN RECENT MEMORY pic.twitter.com/o8BB8BNYVS— MontgomeryMDVotes (@777Vote) May 25, 2024
The top two candidates in each of the three district move on to the November general election.
The top two vote getters in District 2 were teacher union-endorsed Natalie Zimmerman, who received 62,708 votes, which was 46.63% of the total. Brenda Diaz will face Zimmerman in November after having received 27,761 votes, which was 20.64%.
Smondrowski, who is serving her third four-year term, received 24,338 votes, which was 18.1% of the total.
For the At Large seat, Harris had 43,926 votes, which is 32.03% of the total. She was followed closely by teacher union-endorsed Rita Montoya, who had 43,621 votes, or 31.81%. Melissa Kim came in third out of a field of seven candidates.
In District 4, teacher union-endorsed Laura Stewart won easily, garnering 65,189 votes, which is 48.21%, followed by incumbent Evans, who received 38,402 votes, or 28.4%. These two will face off in November.
According to Board of Elections President David Naimon, “This is the earliest that our local Board has been able to certify the returns in recent memory, adding, “I’ve been on the board since 2021.”
There were 172,026 ballots cast, which is 25.27% of eligible voters in the county, according to the Board of Elections.
