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Caroline County elections office readies 2026 cycle; seeks judges, updates equipment and polling supplies
Summary
At a meeting of the Caroline County Board of Elections, the election director outlined 2026 planning: staff interviews after a recent departure, judge recruitment (90 interested, 103 needed), battery maintenance on voting equipment, supply orders, a website migration, and voter registration and candidate-filing updates.
At a meeting of the Caroline County Board of Elections, the election director reported on preparations for the 2026 election cycle, including staffing changes, election-judge recruitment, maintenance of voting equipment and new polling-place supplies, and monthly voter-registration and candidate-filing updates.
The director told the board that an employee, Debbie, left the office with a last day of July 31 and that interviews for the vacancy have been scheduled following the State Board of Elections’ interview guidelines. "Debbie's last day was July 31," the election director said. The director said staff have attended multiple committee meetings to plan judge training and other election logistics.
Why this matters: staffing, judge availability and functioning voting equipment are core to election operations. The director said the office needs at least 103 judges to be fully staffed on election day and that, so far, 90 individuals have expressed interest and been contacted for assignments.
Key details from the director's report include:
- Equipment and supplies: "The batteries have been changed in the scanning units and the ballot marking devices; that was done on July 25," the director reported, and the change was performed with a vendor on site. The office also ordered color-coded election judge supply bags, chief-judge clipboards that open to hold forms, and lightweight, rollable sign holders with aluminum frames designed to replace heavy A-frame signs in the warehouse and on delivery trucks.
- Website and recordkeeping: the director said the office is working with the county IT department to migrate the elections webpage into the county's environment and to adopt the county website format for meeting agendas and information required for live meetings.
- Training and scheduling: tentative election-judge training dates were sent to the State Board of Elections; trainings are scheduled by judge type in evening sessions, typically 6–8 p.m. The director plans to provide a full election calendar to the board once it is finalized.
- Polling places and logistics: letters requesting use of polling places for the 2026 cycle were sent to facilities; the school system confirmed use of Colonel Richardson’s auditorium. The director described how the new sign holders and clipboards should streamline set-up and reduce storage and transport burdens.
- Voter registration and precinct mapping: the director presented monthly comparisons of voter registration totals for July and August and reviewed active vs. inactive status. "Active means that everything we have on record ... is current. ... Inactive means we've mailed them something and it has come back from the post office," the director said, describing the process that leads to an inactive designation and the requirements for voters who appear at the polls flagged as inactive. The office provided a district-to-precinct mapping for planning: Denton (4001), Preston (4001 listed as same numeric code in the report), Federalsburg (5001), Hillsboro (6001), Ridgely (7001) and Colonel Richardson (8001) as precinct identifiers used on the county report for planning purposes.
- Candidate filings and partisan recruiting: as of Aug. 4, six candidates had filed for local contests; the director noted that the county is still recruiting judges and specifically needs more Republican judges. The director said staff will continue outreach and will work with Julie from the Republican Central Committee on recruitment.
Board business and procedural items: the board approved the minutes of the July 11 meeting by voice vote after accepting minor corrections to spelling and punctuation; the board scheduled its next meeting for Sept. 12 and adjourned at the meeting's close.
Votes at a glance: - Motion to accept minutes of July 11 (motion and second not specified): approved by voice vote; individual yea/nay tallies were not recorded in the transcript. - Motion to adjourn (mover/second not specified): approved by voice vote.
The director said supply ordering and early planning tasks are underway and that a finalized training calendar and the election calendar will be provided to the board when available. The board also was reminded of the candidate filing deadline of Feb. 24, 2026, for races discussed during the meeting.
