Blue Wave Comes Out to Vote in P.G. County

High voter turnout in P.G. county for the midterms due to “blue wave” voters coming out stand up to the current Republican administration, according to Hyattsville citizens.

P.G. county experienced unanticipated high numbers of voters on election day as absentee ballots are still being counted. Unofficial results, according to the Board of Elections, saw roughly 70 percent of votes for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous.

Senatorial and House candidates received higher margins of support during elections. However, this data does not include 2 percent of P.G. County precincts, as well as absentee and provisional ballots.

According to The Patch, several P.G. county polling destinations, including Hyattsville Middle School, were open late to account for ballot shortages. Voters in some cases had to wait over an hour as emergency ballots were delivered to polling locations.

At another polling location in Hyattsville, the Hyattsville Police Department on Gallatin St, voters streamed in at a steady rate, despite constant rain for most of the morning.

According to one local retired resident, Leah Wolf, 69, Hyattsville voters are very “intelligent and politically involved.”

“I have never missed an election. I’ve been voting here for 25 years,” said Wolf, who volunteered to hand out sample ballots outside of the Hyattsville Police Department.

She called out to those walking past the police station, asking if they had voted. She said many said they voted early, or turned in absentee ballots.

“It was extremely important not to vote for Hogan,” she added. “I’m more fired up than I’ve ever been because of the national disaster in our government.”

Luz Rubio, 53, said she had been voting at the Police department for 28 years. She said she votes every year because it’s important to her.

“I’m a democrat. I’m sorry, but I am,” said Rubio.

Other voters echoed the same sentiment.
“The political climate is horrible. My vote can send a message to the president that he has to deal with a democratic house,” said Robert Fenton, 53, who works as a psychoanalyst in D.C.

While many voters were fired up about national and state-level elections, P.G. county voters voted a resounding “YES” to every local down-ballot question, many of which will allocate more funds for the city of Hyattsville, and will pass in the coming year.

For example, Francisco Guardado, 19, said Charter Amendment Question G, providing for nondiscrimination in the County personnel system was most important to him. Roughly 94% of P.G. County voters were in favor of the charter amendment as well.

Guardado, voting in his first election, felt it was important to be heard by the government, and vote for people who will do good.

However, despite P.G. County’s high percentage of democratic voters, Gov. Larry Hogan beat Ben Jealous by a roughly 13 percent margin, according to the Board of Elections, and will continue his second-term as Governor of Maryland.

“Tonight in this deep-blue state, in this blue year, with a blue wave, it turns out I can surf,” Hogan said in his victory speech on Tuesday night.

With 99 percent of Maryland districts counted, it appears that P.G. County’s predicted “blue wave” reached local ballot measures and candidates. But not Hogan- who is riding, as he says, a “purple surfboard.”