9/20/2010
Until all of the ballots are counted, there is no certainty whether 15-year incumbent Baltimore City State Attorney Patricia Jessamy or the challenger, Gregg Bernstein, who was a former federal prosecutor, will be proclaimed as the new city state attorney.
The results, as of the evening of September 15 showed that Mr. Bernstein was leading the race by a number of 1,295 votes from 295 precinct results, out of the 298 precincts. The results reflected the voting trends, according to Mr. Bernstein.
Ms. Jessamy on the other hand did not concede to the results, and would be initiating an examination on the vote reporting process on Thursday, to make sure that all the ballots cast in various precincts are turned in and included in the counting. There was an estimate of 2,000 absentee and provisional ballots that still need to be counted, although the camp of Ms. Jessamy estimated that there are still about 10,000 votes that have not been counted yet.
The voter turnout came as a surprise due to the fact that the city did not have a white state attorney since 1982. Mr. Bernstein, during his campaign, was able to reach out to the black populace in a matter of 2 months. He carried his campaign with the slogan “Fight Crime First,” which got the majority’s assent. It should be noted that the rate of conviction of criminal offenders in Baltimore for the past years was considered as the lowest in entire Maryland.
As of press time, it is still anyone’s guess who will be declared as the next Baltimore City State Attorney.
