Montgomery Co. Executive Race: Marc Elrich claims victory as David Blair calls for recount
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The tightly contested race to become the democratic nominee for Montgomery County Executive remains too close to call according the Associated Press, despite one candidate claiming victory and the other calling for a recount.
On Saturday night, the AP reported that incumbent Marc Elrich led David Blair by just 42 votes with 34 votes remaining to be counted.
Montgomery County election officials said of those votes, nine will be counted and the other 25 ballots were "rejected as untimely." Officials have not posted the results of those nine votes.
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After the announcement, Elrich took to Twitter to claim victory in the race.
In his post, Elrich wrote, "I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for County Executive. I want to thank the voters. I love this county and care about our residents so very deeply."
He concluded the statement by writing, "I look forward to continuing to work together to help Montgomery County and all our residents succeed and thrive.
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Despite Elrich claiming victory, his opponent David Blair released a statement Sunday writing in part, "after several weeks of counting and virtually all votes recorded, the Associated Press has declared this race too close to call. Given the extremely close margin, we will be requesting a full recount and are hopeful that the outcome will be in our favor."
Under Maryland law, the trailing candidate can request a recount within three days of the certification of the vote.
The razor-thin margin in the race means the recount would be done at no cost to either candidate.
More than 141,000 votes have been counted in the race.