Howard County Elections: School Board, Judges On Ballot

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Seventeen candidates vied for a seat on the Howard County board of education in June's primary election, which narrowed the field down to 10 school board candidates.

Potential board members, along with two District 5 Circuit Court judge candidates, will be decided upon Tuesday in the Nov. 3 general election at the local level, along with members of the Maryland Congressional delegation and president.

One board member from each of the five districts will be chosen in the election. Current board vice chair Vicky Cutroneo and member Chao Wu will remain on the board, serving as the first two at-large members. In 2018, the two won the most votes and earned a four-year term for each. In the 2022 election, the new at-large members will be elected by all county voters.

Howard County voters will choose board members from among incumbent Christina Delmont-Small and Matthew Molyett in District 1; Antonia Barkley Watts and Larry Pretlow II in District 2; Jolene Mosley and Tom Heffner in District 3; incumbent Jen Mallo and Sezin Palmer in District 4; and Yun Lu and Cindy Vaillancourt in District 5.

Incumbent John J. Kuchno and challenger Quincy L. Coleman will face off in the general election for the Circuit Court judge seat.

Kuchno is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and a member of the Howard County Bar Association and the Maryland State Bar Association. He was selected in January 2019 as an associate judge on the Circuit Court for Howard County.

Coleman has been a trial attorney for more than 20 years in Howard County, as well as Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County and the District of Columbia.

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Two additional races affecting Howard County voters are between Rep. John Sarbanes and Charles Anthony in District 3 (Anne Arundel, Montgomery, Howard and Baltimore counties, and Baltimore City) and Dutch Ruppersberger against Johnny Ray Salling in District 2 (Howard, Harford, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, and Baltimore City).

Sarbanes, who has served in Congress for 13 years, is going against retired Lt. Col. Charles Anthony, a Montgomery County Republican, to represent the 3rd District in Congress. Dutch Ruppersberger has represented the 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 years. He faced state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling who has represented his Baltimore County district in Annapolis since 2014.

Don't forget that voters who mail in their ballots must make sure that the envelope is postmarked on or before general Election Day. A voted ballot must be received by the local board of elections by 10 a.m. on Nov. 13. Voters can check and see if their mail-in ballot was received. Visit the voter look-up website to verify if the local board of elections received a request for a ballot and the status of a submitted mail-in ballot.

Voters who would like to drop their ballots off at a secure ballot box for the 2020 election have numerous options across Howard County. According to the Howard County Board of Elections, multiple secure ballot drop boxes have been set up and are under surveillance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The ballot boxes will be available until 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Here is where the nine designated ballot drop box locations are in Howard County.

If you need to find your polling place for Tuesday, check here.

Patch asked the Howard County candidates about their positions on a variety of subjects. Learn more about those who responded to our survey by visiting the links below:

• Meet Howard County Education Board Candidate: Matthew Molyett
• Meet Howard County Education Board Candidate: Cindy Vaillancourt
• Meet HoCo Education Board Candidate: Sezin Palmer
• Meet Howard County Education Board Candidate: Antonia Watts
• Meet Howard County Education Board Candidate: Jolene Mosley
• Meet Howard County Education Board Candidate: Jen Mallo
• Meet HoCo Education Board Candidate: Christina Delmont-Small
• Meet Howard County Circuit Court Candidate: Judge John Kuchno