City Council primary still too close to call
Sun colleague Nicole Fuller reports:
The political fate of Baltimore City Councilman Warren M. Branch, whose primary race remains too close to call, won’t be determined until later this month, election officials say.
The current counts from the Tuesday vote – 1,713 for Branch, 1,698 for his nearest competitor, Shannon Sneed, a television news journalist – do not include absentee and provisional ballots that are still being counted, city elections director Armstead B. Crawley Jones Sr. said.
A margin of less than 2 percent would trigger an automatic recount, Jones said. The elections board has until Sept. 21 to certify the vote totals for Tuesday’s Democratic primary and declare a winner.
Sneed is looking forward to a final count.
“When I first decided to run for city council it was because of a desire to improve our community,” she wrote in an e-mail, and added: “I remain committed to those goals while we wait on ALL the votes to be counted. It is not over!”
Branch, who was elected to the council in 2007 to represent the East Baltimore district, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Comments
Maybe if the Sun's editorial department had done some actual research on the race and not blindly endorsed Warren Branch, then Shannon Sneed would have already won this race. Branch didn't even bother to fill out the questionnaire that the Sun sent to him.
Ask any citizen who lives in Warren Branch's district if they have ever seen him at a community event.
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford | September 15, 2011 11:50 AM
I talked to Mr. Branch by phone last summer to meet with the neighbors in my community about our concerns. He told me he was familiar with the area because he used to live around the corner. He said he was not far from where we were and that he was on his way. I had by neighbors (especially senior citizens) sitting outside waiting for him in the heat for over an hour. I tried calling and did not get a response. I told the older neighbors to g into the house and when get here I will come them. I waited another hour and he never showed up returned my calls or contacted me again.
When I told a friend of mines how disappointed the neighbors were his reply to me was go to the nearest bar and you will find Mr. Branch.
Posted by: S Tracey | September 15, 2011 12:25 PM
As a former city councilman for the 13th district, this is "deja vu" all over again. Mr. Branch defeated me in 2007 after abseetee ballots were counted only by 51 votes. It is quite uncanny that this scenario will reappear. Im no longer involved in politics, but it is quite strange that this will reoccur with Mr. Branch. Too strange...
Go Mrs. Sneed! The people of the 13th are pulling for you!!
Posted by: vernon crider | September 15, 2011 2:36 PM
"The current counts from the Tuesday vote – 1,713 for Branch, 1,698 for his nearest competitor, Shannon Sneed, a television news – do not include absentee..."
A television news what??? Please review your articles for errors before posting.
Posted by: Baltimore resident | September 15, 2011 3:46 PM
Shannon Sneed was not a television "personality", she was a producer at WJZ.
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford | September 15, 2011 4:21 PM
New update. Branch people are now stating that Shannon Sneed stole votes because there is no way she could have received that many votes. Lol.
Let me show you how Shannon Sneed received all these votes:
unresponsive councilperson + women working her ass off = a lot of votes
We Need Sneed!!!
Posted by: 13th resident | September 16, 2011 7:43 AM
YES for SNEED NO for Branch..this dude Branch aint interested in serving the community..just the tiltle..time for him to go!!
Posted by: disisyou | September 16, 2011 11:36 AM
As a community, can we consider the basic facts? 61% of the voting population voted for change. Either way this race goes, we must ensure that we bring change, even if it must be forced change. We must organize ourselves and improve our district. Shannon has done a wonderful, grassroots job of touching every community in the district. What a great start!
Posted by: Ede Taylor | September 19, 2011 10:00 AM