Campaign 2016
It’s official: Pugh beat Dixon in Democratic primary
Dixon is silent on today’s final ballot count
Above: Catherine Pugh and Sheila Dixon stand on either side of Pastor Jamal Bryant at the Freddie Gray unity march two days before the April 26 primary. (Louie Krauss)
No surprises here: Completing its final count of absentee and provisional ballots from last week’s Democratic primary for mayor, the Baltimore City Board of Elections said late today that State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh has retained her lead over former Mayor Sheila Dixon.
With all outstanding ballots counted, Dixon did narrow her deficit by 196 votes, but was still 2,446 votes behind Pugh in the mayoral primary, election officials said.
The total now stands at 48,665 votes for Pugh and 46,219 for Dixon.
On the morning after the April 26 primary, Pugh’s count was 45,705 and Dixon’s was 43,063. Based on the unofficial count, Pugh had declared victory.
State Certification Next Week
Dixon, however, did not concede the election, charging irregularities in the early voting and telling the media that she was exploring legal challenges.
As of the time stamp of this post, Dixon has not commented on today’s ballot results on her twitter page, which heretofore has been very active in questioning the election board and primary day results.
Those results will be officially certified next week by the Maryland State Board of Elections. Losing candidates do have an appeal process available before the state board.