Maryland starts counting mail-in ballots for 2020 election

Usually, the canvass of absentee ballots begins on the Wednesday after Election Day. But this year, the mail-in vote count got a 30-day head start in Maryland. Anne Arundel County is one of the local jurisdictions that took advantage of the new timeline. In 2018, elections officials said the state of Maryland started counting absentee ballots later than the rest of the country. In 2020, the ballot canvass began Thursday, which is the earliest start in the nation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.