Election Results

The unofficial results are in from yesterday's election. The Maryland State Board of Elections has them here. The WYPR News Team has this roundup of results on the referenda and the race in the sixth congressional district... and this look at the historic approval of Maryland's law legalizing same-sex marriage. A brief roundup of key races follows...

Nearly all the ballots cast yesterday in Maryland have now been counted... they've been more added to the early voting totals, and even though absentee and provisional ballots still need to be counted and the election results need to be certified, the results of most races are clear.

Maryland helped give Democrat Barack Obama his second term as President; Obama won 61 percent of the vote in our state, compared to about 36 and a half percent for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin was also re-elected; he had 55 percent of the vote. Republican Dan Bongino had about 27 percent, and Independent Rob Sobhani had 17 percent.

Nearly all of the incumbent Representatives in the House won re-election... Republican Andy Harris and Democrats Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Donna Edwards, Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings and Chris Van Hollen each claimed victory on Tuesday. The exception was 10-term Republican Roscoe Bartlett, who lost his race in the Sixth District to Democrat John Delaney; Delaney had 59 percent of the vote, compared to Bartlett’s 38 percent.

Delaney's victory over Bartlett came in part because the traditionally conservative sixth district was redrawn by lawmakers to include parts of heavily Democratic Montgomery County. That redistricting plan was on the ballot -- and it was handily approved by voters.

Voters also signed off on the Maryland DREAM Act, on a vote of 58 percent to 42 percent. That means some undocumented immigrants will pay in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities.

Voters in Maryland also approved "Question 7," the hotly debated expanded gambling bill. Fifty-two percent of voters were in favor of the bill, with 48-percent opposed. The measure allows table games like poker and roulette to come to casinos around Maryland. And because "Question 7" got majority support in Prince George's County, a sixth Maryland Casino will be allowed to be built in that jurisdiction.

Maryland voters have also opened the door for couples of the same sex to marry. Yesterday was the first time voters anywhere have approved ballot measures to allow same sex marriage. The issue had been defeated in 30 states. Marylanders approved the same-sex marriage law by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. A similar law was approved in Maine yesterday... and another similar measure is narrowly ahead in Washington state, where ballots are still being counted. Minnesota voters are deciding a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage. That measure is narrowly being rejected, as vote-counting continues.

Maryland voters yesterday also approved measures increasing requirments for judges of orphans courts in Baltimore County and Prince George's County... and one hastening the removal from office of politicians convicted of certain crimes.

In Baltimore City, voters have approved a plan to synchronize city elections with the presidential election cycle. City voters have also approved a charter amdnement that would require the city to audit 13 key agencies every four years.

And in Frederick County, voters have approved a County Charter. That means the County’s board of commissioners will be replaced with a County Executive and County Council.