It’s going to be a very long weekend for three Bel Air Town Commissioner candidates.
Incumbents Robert Preston and David Carey led challenger Greg Adolph by a razor-thin margin in the results of Tuesday’s voting. Nothing will be settled until Monday, when provisional ballots are verified and the remaining absentee ballots are counted.
Currently, Preston leads the field with 414 votes, followed by Carey with 411 and Greg Adolph with 410. Ricky Davis received 356 votes, Dave Mitchell received 32 votes, and Steve Testerman received 11 votes.
Those results included the 866 votes cast on Tuesday as well as eight of 13 absentee ballots. Five absentee ballots have yet to be counted, and eight provisional ballots must be verified before being counted.
Town election officials will open the remaining absentee ballots and determine the validity of the provisional ballots on Monday at 2:30 p.m. at Bel Air Town Hall.
All the candidates except for Testerman, who announced last month that he was dropping his candidacy and would not actively campaign, were on hand Monday night at Town Hall to hear the results. But it was clear those numbers would be extremely close when town employee Joyce Oliver prefaced them with a warning that nothing would be final that night.
The first round of results read did not include any absentee ballots, and had Adolph and Preston tied with 409 votes each, Carey behind with 406 votes, and Davis trailing with 353.
Davis left Town Hall without comment after those results were read, while the other stunned candidates double-checked the figures.
After a short time, elections officials announced that they would open eight of the 13 absentee ballots. The remainder were held back until Monday; in the event that all but one or two provisional ballots were deemed ineligible, the excess absentee ballots would be able to be mixed in to protect the anonymity of the remaining provisional ballots.
Of those eight ballots, Preston and Carey each gained five votes, Davis gained three, and Adolph gained one. Two of the ballots were “under-voted,” meaning they included a vote for only one candidate.
It’s the closest town election since 2005, when Joan Morrisey Ward and Jim Decker ended the election in a dead tie and went to a run-off election, which Ward won.
Each of the remaining three candidates saw a different light at the end of their respective tunnels.
“A lot of older people are out of town, they’re very conscientious about sending these [absentee ballots] in,” Preston said. “The older generation are generally going for Dave and I.”
Carey recalled the town election of 1995, when he lost by only two votes. But this time around, he said he believed the remaining five absentee ballots would push him and his fellow incumbent over the top.
“Out of the first eight absentee ballots, I picked up five, Rob picked up five, Greg picked up one,” Carey said, “so that bodes well.”
However, the number of provisional ballots which election officials validate could be a crucial factor in sorting out the three-way virtual tie.
Town Commissioner Terry Hanley, who helped guide the Adolph and Davis campaigns, said that once those provisional ballots are included, the result will be obvious.
“Adolph wins,” he said. “Provisional votes are new voters, who were energized to come out and vote for a challenger.”
Adolph himself thanked those in attendance for their efforts in the election, without much comment on the results. But in private conversation, it was clear that he was settling in for a long, tense wait on the doorstep of his first electoral victory.
“It’s there,” Adolph said. “It’s right there.”
Out with the old, in with the new. Take notice, we want to see our tax dollars at work for all of us, not special interest groups, like those that profit from the highly subsidised Rockfield Manor. Also know this; the children at Homestead-Wakefield deserve safety over anyone else’s rush to get wherever they are going. Know this too; the children of Bel Air Elementary need space! That rotten old building up the hill that some of you can’t seem to part with is nothing but a health and financial liability for the town, and the property it sits on belongs to the children! Take notice.
Everyone please stop griping about this MacPhail Road extension. As for the people who think it is a big deal, congratulations! You’ve been successfully duped by several canidates into thinking that there is even a REMOTE chance of it ever happening. Davis and Adolf needed something to turn people against Preston so they came up with an issue sure to arouse the passions of school age children. The fact that Preston has no control over whether the road is built was .
The School Board owns the land in question and would never sell it to the town to build a road right next to the school. So even if Preston wanted it built it just isn’t gonna happen.
Educate yourselves on the issues before you get worked into such a lather over them.
Sorry, cut off one of my sentences. It should read:
The fact that Preston has no control over whether the road is built was left out of the rhetoric.
Can someone explain to me what provisional ballots are? Thanks.
Provisional ballots are traditionally ballots cast by people who cannot be immediately verified as eligible voters,and are subject to a verification process. These could be folks who recently moved in, or registered to vote near the deadline and who, for various reasons, did not appear on the list used by the election judges/poll workers to verify their address.
Thanks Dell. It seems to me that the provisional ballots would bode well for Adolph, wouldn’t it?
Perhaps. But the as-yet untallied absentee ballots will likely go toward Carey, so it could be a wash.
After the validation process, it is not the norm that all of the provisional ballots are accepted.
So, if the presumption is that even half of the provisional ballots are accepted (4), and the were to ALL go to Adolph, he would lead Carey by three votes. If, for the sake of argument, the 5 absentee ballots go 4-1 for Carey, Carey still wins.
Town absentees are typically elderly folks, “old Bel Air” if you will, and the chances are that those 5 unsealed ballots all read “Preston & Carey.”
I warned everybody last week. The voter base in the Town, not the registered voters but those that would come out and vote in the muni election, is very small. And very old.
A good example of why every vote counts. So many people think their vote doesn’t matter. It will here.
What is sad is that some voted for Testerman after he dropped out. Those votes could have gone to someone who was actually in the race. And for the hot dog man who was the joke of the race.
Agreed. Terry “The Maestro” should have gotten to Mitchell before the polls opened yesterday. It probably would have taken about 10 minutes for him to call his supporters and have them throw their votes behind Adolph and Davis.
The world may never know…
To all who came out on November 3, 2009 to support Rick Davis and Greg Adolph in the Bel Air Town Commissioner elections, I THANK YOU.
To all who did not vote, but who complain about redlights, Town Hall expansion, the safety of children due to traffic around their schools, high sewer rates, the enormous town employee payroll, parking, high taxes and dropping home values, you should be ashamed. There are roughly 6800 registered voters in the town of Bel Air and roughly 864 voted in Tuesday’s election…approximately 12.5% of the town’s residents; that is appalling! Apathy does nothing to change the issues facing our town.
So, let your anger at: your next increase in tax bill or mortgage payment, or sitting at a STOP sign for 15 minutes during the holiday season, or the procession of town-owned cars pulling out from department of public works, or the next increase in sewer rates be your motivation to get out and vote next time!
Your right, ghettofire. I vote in every election and have always believed that the local elections affect my life more than the presidential elections every 4 years. I guess since the more local the election, the less mass media it generates, the less people care. Town of Bel Air issues are the real quality of life issues that residents face every day. You’d think more of them would make the effort to become informed (not real easy) and vote.
Uh, what if I voted and don’t want the traffic light and want a new town hall and want the McPhail Road cut through?
Then you voted for Carey and Preston, you haven’t looked closely at the waste of Taxpayer money, and you are looking forward to next years property tax and sewer fee increses.
(and you are probably a Democrat)
Sorry – Republican since registration over twenty years ago, with a framed picture of Reagan on my desk. However, I am not blindly supporting any and all tax cuts (how much is that traffic light going to cost, anyway?) I want efficient government, but I also want a good quality of life, and sometimes you have to spend. We all draw the line somewhere, and I choose to include a functional, updated center of activities in my town rather than the 1960s eyesore on Hickory Avenue.
And yes, cut through MacPhail, tear down the upper school and consolidate the students in the lower school in an updated building. No school land will be bisected and traffic will flow more freely, which will help me. I am honest enough to declare that sometimes it is all about me.
I want the same basic things. Traffic light is $180k and the Town chose to reject a deal to avoid that cost. I don’t think the “eyesore” needs to be renovated for $5 million, I’d prefer they buy the BB&T on Main for a fraction of that, move everyone there, then dispose of the Hickory property or find a suitable user and rent it. I don’t believe a Town this size needs $600k (plus another 30% in benefits) of purely administrative salary or a payroll of $7.52 miillion. We are trading in vehicles that have 90k miles. I want efficiency and the current regime is not giving it to us, they are sticking it to us.
The developer on Gateway would have paid for the light. However, he wanted to add another floor to the condos he is currently building.
The light would have been paid for, which is estimated at $250k.
Whatever the outcome of the election, I would like to congratulate Mr. Adolph, who, in his first stab at running for office, is oh so close to defeating the incumbents. Quite an accomplishment. If this doesn’t work out for him, I hope he doesn’t give up because I find him to be a bright, sensible young man with a promising future. Kudos to you Mr. Adolph and we’ll see what the final ballot count brings.
frustrated,
You implied that if you voted for Carey and Preston that your taxes were wasted and look forward to increased property taxes and sewer fees.(and you are probably a Democrat) My question to you is what makes you think Democrats enjoy paying taxes or favor waste of tax payer’s money. Recently there was a large outcry from the tax payers of Harford County about their tax assessments. Those exercising their right to challenge the county government’s policy on taxation were from all parties, Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated or Independents. To assume one party has the monopoly on taxing is erroneously. In the past decade or so the county has been controlled by the Republican Party. Our taxes went up significantly during the time period.
It is not that they were wasted so much as the choices that were made grew the government. Now that revenues have fallen and continue to fall, why won’t they cut payroll or furlough? Whatever happened to earning your pay? You can’t tell me that the Town payroll makes sense to anyone but the Town staff. I’d be OK paying $150k to run the Town but you’ll never convince me that the Town needs 6 $100k slalries. There just isn’t that much to do. We have become the General Motors of municipal government. I am a Republican but sick of both parties for wasting my money.
I agree with frustrated. The out of control salaries are what concerns me the most. I just about died when Commissioner Carey stated at the forum that there was only one six-figure salary, all the rest were in the $90K range. And Preston trying to justify the salaries. That to me is a true waste of my money and I’m pissed.
You echo my sentiments exactly. Remember Carey is a lawyer who “earns” his money arguing black is white or vice versa depending on who is paying him. There is no reality for him only shades of gray.
I agree with frustrated. The out of control salaries are what concerns me the most. I just about died when Commissioner Carey stated at the forum that there was only one six-figure salary, all the rest were in the $90K range. And Preston trying to justify the salaries. That to me is a true waste of my money and I’m pissed
Please add the take home town owned car that is worth with gas and insurance 20K
I vote in every election and did not even know this one was happening because schools were not closed. I live in the town of Bel Air.Shouldn’t every town resident be notified? Where would I have found out? Please do not attack; I just want to know where to look for next time.
Us here at The Dagger intentionally put the date and times for both the Bel Air and Aberdeen election in almost every story we posted, and mentioned both at the start and end of both candidates forums. I say this with NO sarcasm meant, truly: how do you get your news, what are you plugged into? If there’s something we’re missing, we want to make sure we’re covering it.
No attack. The Town publishes “The Bel Air Bond” which goes out to all residents monthly. It was certainly in there. They lose a little by having off-year elections, but, they don’t have to have as much infrastructure as they would if they were participating in the election along with county/state/national elections.
Again no attack, but, didn’t you become the least bit curious about the “vote for” signs all over Town over the last month or so?
No attack. The Town publishes “The Bel Air Bond” which goes out to all residents monthly. It was certainly in there. Is that printed by Preston’s