Crosby keeps school board lead after most absentees read

Friday, Nov. 7, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Marilyn Crosby, right, talks with sitting member Mary Washington while campaigning at Esperanza Middle School. Washington was unopposed for her fourth straight term. Cathy Allen, who was also unopposed, won a third consecutive term. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story   How St. Mary's voted for at-large seat on board of education Precincts Crosby Kessler 1-1 Ridge firehouse 546 673 1-2 Ridge Elementary School 407 497 District 1 totals 953 1170 2-1 Valley Lee firehouse 824 671 2-2 Piney Point Elementary School 742 560 District 2 totals 1566 1231 3-1 Leonardtown firehouse 350 336 3-2 Loveville Elementary School 628 495 3-3 Leonardtown Middle School 490 618 3-4 Banneker Elementary School 431 627 3-5 Leonardtown High School 388 468 District 3 totals 2287 2544 4-1 Margaret Brent Middle School 684 599 4-2 Our Lady of the Wayside hall 440 499 4-3 Chopticon High School 579 602 District 4 totals 1703 1700 5-1 Mechanicsville firehouse 713 585 5-2 L.M. Dent Elementary School 599 613 5-3 Golden Beach firehouse 629 620 District 5 totals 1941 1818 6-1 Hollywood VFD banquet room 485 565 6-2 Oakville Elementary School 550 517 6-3 Hollywood Elementary School 581 648 6-4 Hollywood VFD conference room 479 580 District 6 totals 2095 2310 7-1 7th District firehouse 631 539 8-1 Great Mills High School 710 686 8-2 Town Creek Elementary School 408 391 8-3 Greenview Knolls Elementary School 672 700 8-4 Park Hall Elementary School 911 909 8-5 St. Andrew's Church dining hall 779 704 8-6 Esperanza Middle School 523 387 8-7 Green Holly Elementary School 556 467 8-8 St. Andrew's Church meeting room 90 92 8-9 Lexington Park Elementary School 809 501 8-10 Bay District VFD California 319 232 District 8 totals 5777 5069 9-1 St. George Island Imp. Assn. 55 41 TOTALS 17008 16422

Marilyn Crosby held a 586-vote lead in her bid to unseat incumbent school board member Gary Kessler after votes were counted Tuesday night.

On Thursday, after 2,486 absentee voters were counted, that margin shrank by 15.

More absentee votes and provisional votes remain to be counted, but the odds are now quite slim that Crosby's 571-vote lead could be overtaken.

On Monday, the board will review 726 provisional ballots and on Friday, Nov. 14, the rest of the absentee ballots, about 841 of them, will be counted.

Kessler picked up 951 more votes in Thursday's absentee vote count. His new total is 17,373. Crosby got 936 more. Her grand total is 17,944.

"I am confident I'm going to win and do a wonderful job for the children of St. Mary's County — keep the children first," Crosby said late Thursday afternoon. "I would like to congratulate my opponent for his effort."

On Tuesday evening Kessler said, "It looks like Marilyn pulled it out. It was definitely a close race. She's done a real good job campaigning."

Crosby spent $10,000 on her campaign, while Kessler spent $110.

Bill Mattingly, chairman of the school board, said Thursday, "I'm disappointed for Gary because I know he wanted to come back. Gary's done an outstanding job. He's engaged as much as any of us. He does his homework. He brings the Pax River connection of course. We're really going to miss that. We really are losing a very good board member."

As for Crosby's now expected win, he said, "I think Marilyn will do fine. I look forward to working with whoever. That's one of my traits. I'm all about what's best for the kids. My only hope is that she's a team player."

Cathy Allen ran uncontested for her 2nd District seat and received 30,796 votes Tuesday. It is Allen's third straight term. It is Mary Washington's fourth straight term and she had no opponent. She received 31,496 votes Tuesday.

On Thursday morning the board of elections began opening the 2,486 absentee ballots to be counted later that day. There are total of about 3,227 absentee ballots. It took 35 minutes to open the first 1,000 envelopes, with a second box of 1,200 and a third box with the remainder awaiting. "We're waiting for things to be official. We don't want to jump the gun," said school Superintendent Michael Martirano on Thursday before the day's absentee count was finished.

But generally speaking of the process for a new incoming board member, he said, "The learning curve is steep."

There is a transitional meeting to present the issues, policies, the budget process and the superintendent's vision for the school system. "I will avail myself whenever necessary because the bottom line is the process continues," he said.

jbabcock@somdnews.com