This morning Cecil Times posted a new article on its web site examining the unofficial returns. We think our readers will be interested in these obsevations so we’re clipping part of the story here. Click on the link at the bottom for the entire article. Thanks Cecil Times for keeping these insightful pieces coming.
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Cecil Times — Party (Line) Time in Cecil Voting Except for Congress
The unofficial returns for Cecil County in the Tuesday election show some interesting patterns in party-line voting from the top to bottom of the ballot, with the exception of the too-close-to-call 1st District race for Congress between Democrat Frank Kratovil and Republican Andy Harris.
Countywide, Republican presidential candidate John McCain carried Cecil with 56.41percent of the vote to Democratic President-to-be Barack Obama’s 41.28 percent. Independent Ralph Nader won 1 percent of Cecil’s vote. McCain carried all but 4 of Cecil’s 19 election precincts.
Kratovil won 18,643 votes to Harris’ 17,992, giving Kratovil 49.2 percent of Cecil County votes to Harris’ 47.5 percent. Kratovil had a majority in all but 8 of the county’s 19 election precincts, with Harris’ support concentrated in the western areas of the county. Kratovil also carried every county on the Maryland Eastern Shore, while Harris carried the Western Shore areas of Harford, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties included in the district. The state election board reported Kratovil ahead by just 916 votes district-wide, so the contest won’t be decided until absentee and overseas ballots are counted.
Locally, the 5th District County Commissioner race put Republican Robert Hodge ahead by just 328 votes over Democrat Sharon Weygand, with all 19 county precincts reporting. Absentee votes might still alter the outcome. The local elections board reported Hodge received 18,166 votes, or 49.54 percent, to Weygand’s 17,838, or 48.64 percent of the vote. There were 669 write-in votes– most of which probably went to Tom McWilliams.
Someone Noticed 
I believe the results from the Harris -Kratovil race for congress are reflecctive of the Eastern Shore vs. Western Shore nature of this race. Harris’ support was centered in the western part of Cecil Co. where the influence of Western shore politics is felt more keenly while Kratovil seemed to have strong support in the areas of the county that are more associated with the Eastern Shore. This will be a very close race.
Your humble and obedient servant, S.N.