CHESTERTOWN — Laura McKenzie, the mother of four students educated in Kent County’s public schools, is the clear winner in the Kent County Board of Education race for two open seats.
With all 10 precincts reporting before 10 p.m. Tuesday, McKenzie garnered nearly 39% of the votes.
The race for the other seat is shaping up to be between John Queen (23%) and incumbent Francoise Sullivan (21%), and is too close to call at this point.
The two are separated by about 250 votes.
Piers Heriz-Smith (16.5%) rounds out the field.
The results are unofficial.
The school board race is nonpartisan.
According to the Kent County Board of Elections, about 2,200 mail-in ballots had been received.
The first canvass of mail-in ballots will be Thursday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Kent County Board of Elections Office, Chestertown.
A second canvass of mail-in ballots and final canvass is 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 15.
The provisional ballot canvass is 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13.
According to the preliminary results posted on the Kent County Board of Elections’ website, McKenzie totaled 4,979 votes — including 2,800 cast on Election Day.
She also led in early voting (1,784) and mail-in voting (395).
The other totals are: Queen, 2,983; Sullivan, 2,735; and Heriz-Smith, 2,131.
There are 14,126 registered voters in Kent County, according to local elections officials.
The breakdown includes 5,758 Democrats and 5,464 Republicans.
The school board election was the only local race for Kent County voters.
Joe Goetz, the current board president, did not seek election to a third term.
Trish McGee, owner and publisher of The Evening Enterprise, is an elected member of the Kent County Board of Education.