By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Nov. 19, 2020) Donald Smack Sr. and Dr. Jon Andes are officially members of the Worcester County Board of Education, following the verification of the vote count from the Nov. 3 elections.

The final results were posted on the Maryland State Board of Elections website last Friday after all mail-in and provisional ballots were counted. Reelected to the board in that contest was Elena McComas.

Smack, who was elected to the District 2 seat, received 1,863 votes, for 62 percent of the votes. He received 639 votes from in-person early voting, 664 votes on Election Day and 483 votes by mail-in ballots and 77 votes by provisional ballots.

Smack’s opponent Rodney Bailey received 1,112 votes, and another 28 votes went to write-ins.

Former Superintendent of Worcester County Public Schools Dr. Jon Andes won the District 3 seat with 3,039 votes, for 73.3 percent of the votes. He received 1,586 votes from in-person early voting, 601 votes on Election Day and 768 votes by mail-in ballots and 84 votes by provisional ballots.

His opponent Anjali “Angie” Phukan-Chatelle received a total of 1,093 votes, and another 16 votes were counted for write-ins.

McComas received 98.8 percent of the votes for District 5 with 1,974 votes from in-person early voting, 529 votes on Election Day, 1,474 votes by mail-in ballots and 143 votes by provisional ballots.

About 1 percent, or 50 votes, went to write-ins.

The Maryland Association of Boards of Education is hosting a new board member orientation on Dec. 10-11. Registration is $150.

According to the association’s website, the orientation will introduce new board members to the work of school boards and teach them about the basics of school law, policy, finance and advocacy.

For more information, visit www.mabe.org/training/#orientation.

The elected Worcester County board members will be sworn in at the regular board meeting on Jan. 19, 2021.