First Election District candidates for Calvert County Board of Education, left to right, Dawn Balinski and Stephen Jones.
Prince Frederick, MD – The six candidates who will vie for three seats on the Calvert County Board of Education (BOE) were determined in a non-partisan primary election April 26. Overall, Third Election District incumbent Kelly D. McConkey garnered the most votes—10,152—nearly 5,300 more than Erin Knowles, the district’s second-place finisher. McConkey and Knowles will now go one-on-one in the November General Election. The third-place finisher in the district was Monica Silbas, who received just fewer than 2,300 votes.
“I just work hard and run scared,” said McConkey of his easy primary victory. Of his tenure on the school board, he added, “I think I’ve been able to accomplish a lot. I’ve always been a huge supporter of staff.”
“It’s been a learning experience,” Knowles told The BayNet. “I will work hard. I just want to be proactive.”
According to the Calvert Election Office, the overall turnout for the 2016 Maryland Primary in the county was 33.83 percent of the jurisdiction’s registered voters.
The Primary voters were not kind to all BOE incumbents. In the First Election District incumbent James Piatt was trailing second-place finisher Stephen Jones by 189 votes after numbers from the county’s early-voting and 23 polling locations were tallied. The top vote-getter in District 1 was former BOE member Dawn Balinski, who received 8,296 votes. Piatt is currently serving an unexpired term. He was appointed to the BOE by the previous Calvert Board of County Commissioners.
The most competitive of the three races was the Second Election District, where two-term incumbent Tracy McGuire tallied 6,262 votes, 111 more than former interim superintendent Nancy Highsmith. The third-place finisher in the district, retired educator Casey Smith, received 4,505 votes. While Smith was among the top six vote-getters overall, her totals were only good for third place in the Second Election District.
“I’m very excited about moving on to the General Election,” said Highsmith, who would be the BOE’s only career educator should she win in November. “I think I can make a difference on the board. We need a change on the board and I can be that change agent. The board needs to be balanced. Educators do bring a different prospective. It’s not just a job, it’s a passion.”
Absentee ballots were counted Thursday, April 28 with provisional ballots to be tallied Wednesday, May 4.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com