Absentee

Registered voters who are unable to make it to the polls on Nov. 3 -- Election Day -- are eligible to vote by absentee ballot. Here's how to do it:* Non-emergency requests: Deadline for absentee ballot requests is Tuesday, Oct. 27. Applicants can either apply in person at the local elections board or send a letter to the board requesting a ballot. Due to time constraints, the letter is considered the application. The letter should contain the name and address of the registered voter, the address where the ballot should be mailed, and the reason why the voter will be unable to make it to the polls.

Absenteeism soared in Anne Arundel County schools Friday after a week of rampant shooting rumors apparently spooked parents. More than half of the students at two high schools stayed home. Across the system, absences quadrupled at Arundel high schools and increased more than fourfold at middle schools compared to the final day before the holiday break last year, schools spokesman Bob Mosier said, attributing the spike to the rumors. By Tuesday, principals at five high schools and one middle school sent home letters to parents dispelling false reports that a shooting was planned for Friday, one week after a mass shooting in Connecticut that left 20 elementary students and six school employees dead.

City housing officials have filed criminal charges against 15 property owners accused of violating a law requiring absentee landlords to pay a $10-per-unit registration fee.The 15 alleged violators face potential court fines as high as $10,000. The city enacted the registration law in 1981 as a way of locating absentee landlords who had been charged with housing code violations such as failing to provide tenants with heat or hot water.Robert Dengler, acting director of housing inspection services, said the city's prosecution of a small number of recalcitrant landlords tends to bring forward others who haven't registered.

The absence of inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and tight end Ed Dickson from Wednesday's practice isn't shocking. But cornerback Corey Graham was also not present during the portion of practice open to the media. Graham was not reported to have suffered an injury in the aftermath of the Ravens' 16-13 overtime win against the San Diego Chargers this past Sunday. His absence might not be serious, but if Graham is unavailable, the defense may have to turn to either Chris Johnson or Chykie Brown to start against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday.

JERUSALEM - Like most American citizens living in Israel, Steven Shnider didn't cast a ballot in the last presidential election four years ago. Neither did Stuart Schnee, although he is an avid follower of politics back home. This year, both men are voting, and thousands of others here are expected to follow suit. Nowhere overseas does the dominant issue of this campaign - how to make America safe from terrorism - resonate more than with people living in Israel, where Palestinian suicide bombings targeting civilian buses and cafes are routine, and residents feel they are on the front lines of what has become a global war. "This election is a much more critical one," said Shnider, who grew up in Maryland but voted this year in New Hampshire, his last official U.S. address.

Former Gov. William Donald Schaefer took a step forward in his political comeback last night, winning the Democratic nomination for state comptroller. But a tight race to determine his Republican opponent will not be decided until absentee ballots are counted.Schaefer, returning to politics after a restless retirement, won an easy victory in yesterday's primary to earn a spot on the Nov. 3 general election ballot -- the first comptroller's race in four decades without political legend Louis L. Goldstein's name on the ballot.

Results from some of the more closely watched races on the Republican side of the ballot in Tuesday's primary election with 69 of 69 precincts reporting (provisional and overseas absentee ballots will be counted this week) [SOURCE: Harford County Board of Elections]

Want to vote but can't? Get an absentee ballotRegistered voters unable to get to the polls on election day because of an emergency still can vote Nov. 3 if they obtain an emergency absentee ballot from the Election Board and return it before the polls close.The board will accept requests for emergency ballots until 8 p.m., when the polls close. It will count any emergency ballot received before then.Emergency ballot applicants must reveal under penalty of perjury why they cannot vote at their polling place on election day.Voters unable to apply for absentee ballots in person because of illness, an accident or some other emergency may designate another county registered voter as their "duly authorized agent" to apply for the ballot and return it to the Election Board.

Marylanders who wish to cast a ballot in the state's March 2 primary election must be registered to vote by Tuesday. City, county and state election offices will stay open until 9 p.m. that day for in-person registration. If voters choose to register by mail, their applications must be postmarked by Tuesday. Voters in past elections in Maryland do not need to reregister for the primary, as long as they have remained state residents and kept their names and addresses current with their local election boards.

The Baltimore mayoral race in the general election will be a re-run of 1987.Absentee ballots counted Saturday made Samuel Culotta the Republican nominee again.He faces incumbent Democrat Kurt L. Schmoke, who won the general election easily four years ago.The absentee count did not change the results of any other primary race in either party.Culotta, 67, a lawyer, has been the GOP nominee for mayor in every election since 1975.However, in Thursday's primary, he received stiff competition from Bruce Price and Joseph Scalia.

Some voters in Montgomery and Prince George's counties have received absentee ballots that are missing a page containing referendum questions, state officials said Wednesday. The state Board of Elections has found that fewer than 20 absentee voters received ballots missing a second page, Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement. "Residents who have requested an absentee ballot should check to make certain they have a complete ballot with a second page that includes Questions 4-7, as well as any of the local county-related questions," O'Malley said.

Maryland's Board of Elections has acknowledged sending out some incomplete absentee ballots and some with incorrect address information, but officials say both problems were limited in scope and have been resolved. A handful of voters in Montgomery and Prince George's counties received ballots that did not include a page with some of the state's controversial referendum questions - including whether to allow same-sex marriage, expand gambling and extend in-state tuition discounts to some illegal immigrants.

Iowa steak fries, gay rights rallies. Your personal holy grail, a national prize awaits, you think, while your Maryland constituents wonder aloud, where is that fink? Whatever happened to making the land of pleasant living a place so desirous, and a governor whose so-called intent was to inspire us? A once-proud state is now very divisible, while your aspiration to higher office has made you quite invisible!

Unlike Saturday's practice, which was punctuated by the return of tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta, Monday's session did not provide similar storylines. There were no players who ended a recent absence to return to the practice field at the team's headquarters in Owings Mills. And on the flipside, there were no new players added to the list of players absent from previous sessions. Starting right guard Marshal Yanda missed his third consecutive practice with a strained right knee.

Two Democratic candidates in Maryland's 1st Congressional District remained locked Thursday in a too-close-to-call contest for the party's nomination, after an initial tally of absentee ballots left them separated by fewer than 100 votes. In the only still-undecided race from Tuesday's statewide primary, Cockeysville businesswoman Wendy Rosen had an 86-vote lead over physician John LaFerla of Chestertown, out of more than 25,000 ballots cast. Rosen has declared victory, but LaFerla has said the race remains too close for him to concede.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, who is running a write-in campaign to keep her seat in the Nov. 8 election, accused the city elections board Tuesday of committing "major fraud" by mailing out incorrect absentee ballots to 7th District voters. Conaway said she has confirmed that at least seven voters in her district received 6th District absentee ballots in the mail, and worries that the problem could be more widespread. Conaway said she sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., asking him to intervene in the administration of the election.

O'Malley, Cardin are elected Acknowledging that even the large number of absentee ballots could not bring about reversals, Republican incumbent Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. conceded the gubernatorial election to Democratic Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, as did Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his unsuccessful U.S. Senate race against Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin. Statewide, Democrats were elected as attorney general and comptroller. Absentee votes lift Leopold John R. Leopold, a 25-year Republican veteran of Anne Arundel County politics, appeared to win the race for county executive after a tally of absentee ballots gave him a margin of nearly 4,000 votes over Democrat George F. Johnson IV. 6 life sentences for Malvo A tearful Lee Boyd Malvo told a Montgomery County courtroom that he was ashamed of his role in the sniper rampage that terrorized the Washington area in 2002 and claimed six lives, and that he'll never be able to forgive himself.

The case of the Rockville absentee voters who weren't is a reminder that human error, not technology, is usually the biggest obstacle to those who run elections. The incident was unfortunate - roughly 10 percent of the city's electorate was accidentally classified as absentee for the Nov. 6 municipal election - but the consequences could have been far worse. As it was, about 10 people were directed to go to Rockville City Hall to straighten out their situation. It's likely some didn't bother and therefore didn't vote.

We were very pleased to read about the Baltimore City Public Schools' well-deserved national recognition as "revitalized" and on "an upward trajectory" in "Baltimore's graduation rate: a success story still being written" (March 28). As the article makes clear, the Baltimore City Public Schools, under the leadership of CEO Andrés Alonso, have gone to extraordinary lengths to improve the quality of education, increase graduation rates, reduce expulsions and suspensions and develop robust partnerships with foundations, community organizations and other stakeholders.

In a race tighter than expected, longtime Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee was leading his Republican challenger, Eric Grannon, by nearly 4,000 votes, as more than 7,000 absentee ballots were being counted Thursday and Friday. Grannon, 38, an attormey whose private practice largely handles antitrust and business matters, would have to garner more than 75 percent of the votes cast in absentee and provisional ballots to unseat Weathersbee, 66, who has 22 years on the job. "We're pretty confident that the absentee votes will fall the way the precincts have," Weathersbee said Thursday.