The towns of Garrett Park and Chevy Chase decided their elections this week, after both held vote-by-mail elections due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In Garrett Park, incumbent Mayor Kacky Chantry, who ran unopposed, was re-elected with 278 votes.
In the Town Council race, with three candidates for two seats, Mario Grande and incumbent Gerilee Bennett came out on top with 275 and 255 votes, respectively. Andrew Fidler came in third, with 142 votes. Current Council Member Hans Wegner did not run for reelection.
Out of Garrett Park’s 871 qualified voters who were mailed ballots, 375 ballots were returned and scanned. Twelve were returned “undeliverable,” five were “resolved,” two were left blank and one had an unsigned affidavit. There were also five provisional ballots.
The town of Chevy Chase also conducted a vote-by-mail election.
Incumbent Barney Rush was re-elected to the Town Council with 653 votes and newcomers Ellen Cornelius Ericson and Irene Lane were elected with 652 and 641 votes, respectively. None of the candidates faced opposition, although write-ins had been allowed to file.
Current Council Members Wicca Davidson and Kirk Renaud did not run for reelection.
There were also uncontested races in the municipalities of Chevy Chase Village, Chevy Chase Section 5, Chevy Chase Section 3, Chevy Chase View and North Chevy Chase.
In each of those municipalities, the local governing body either amended its charter or invoked an existing section of its charter to not require an election in the event of an uncontested race. Candidates were declared automatically elected in each of these cases.
The town of Kensington is scheduled to hold a vote-by-mail election June 1.
Maryland’s presidential primary was scheduled for April 28, but was postponed because of the pandemic until June 2 and will be conducted mostly by mail. Click here for more information about local candidates in Bethesda Beat’s voters guide.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media