Calvert County Public Schools elections (2016)

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2018 → ← 2014
Calvert County Public Schools Elections
Primary election date:
April 26, 2016
General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
16,221 students

Three of the five seats on the Calvert County Board of Education were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on April 26, 2016, with the top two vote recipients in each district advancing to the general election. Challengers Stephen Jones Jr. and Dawn Balinski advanced to the District 1 general election by defeating incumbent James Piatt. Balinski defeated Jones in the election. The District 2 race featured incumbent Tracy McGuire and challenger Nancy Vaeth Highsmith after Casey Smith was defeated in the primary. McGuire won re-election against Highsmith. In District 3, incumbent Kelly McConkey defeated challenger Erin Knowles. McConkey and Knowles defeated Monica Lee Silbas in the primary.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The five-member Calvert County Board of Education consists of three members elected by district and two members elected at-large to four-year terms. A primary election took place on April 26, 2016, and a general election took place on November 8, 2016.

Board candidates submitted their statements of organization and certificates of candidacy with the county elections office by February 3, 2016. Each candidate was also required to submit a filing fee of $25 to the county. State law required candidates to be registered voters and residents of the district.

County residents had to register to vote for the primary election by April 5, 2016. The county offered early voting in the primary from April 14, 2016, to April 21, 2016. The deadline to register to vote in the general election was October 18, 2016. Early voting for the general election took place from October 27, 2016, to November 3, 2016.

District 1

Results

Calvert County Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Dawn Balinski	58.34%	21,949
Stephen Jones Jr.	41.12%	15,472
Write-in votes	0.54%	202
Total Votes		37,623
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2016 Presidential General Election Results," accessed December 14, 2016

Calvert County Public Schools, District 1 Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Dawn Balinski	51.15%	8,296
Stephen Jones Jr.	25.01%	4,056
James Piatt Incumbent	23.84%	3,867
Total Votes		16,219
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Unofficial 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Calvert County," accessed April 26, 2016

Candidates

Dawn Balinski		Stephen Jones Jr.
	Board member, 2010-2014 Bachelor's degree, Auburn University Master's degree, University of South Carolina Treasurer, Maryland Forestry Boards Foundation

Defeated in the primary

James Piatt
	Incumbent First appointed in 2014 Bachelor's degree, Thomas Edison State College Master's degree, Grantham University Senior reactor operator, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant

District 2

Results

Calvert County Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tracy McGuire Incumbent	49.95%	19,267
Nancy Vaeth Highsmith	49.63%	19,141
Write-in votes	0.42%	163
Total Votes		38,571
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2016 Presidential General Election Results," accessed December 14, 2016

Calvert County Public Schools, District 2 Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tracy McGuire Incumbent	37.01%	6,262
Nancy Vaeth Highsmith	36.36%	6,151
Casey Smith	26.63%	4,505
Total Votes		16,918
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Unofficial 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Calvert County," accessed April 26, 2016

Candidates

Tracy McGuire		Nancy Vaeth Highsmith
	Incumbent First elected in 2008 Bachelor's degree, George Mason University Former federal employee		Interim superintendent during the 2013-2014 school year

Defeated in the primary

Casey Smith
	Retired district teacher

District 3

Results

Calvert County Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kelly McConkey Incumbent	60.99%	24,470
Erin Knowles	38.63%	15,499
Write-in votes	0.38%	151
Total Votes		40,120
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2016 Presidential General Election Results," accessed December 14, 2016

Calvert County Public Schools, District 3 Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kelly McConkey Incumbent	58.73%	10,152
Erin Knowles	28.08%	4,854
Monica Lee Silbas	13.19%	2,281
Total Votes		17,287
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Unofficial 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Calvert County," accessed April 26, 2016

Candidates

Kelly McConkey		Erin Knowles
	Incumbent Owner, Kelly's Nursery		Bachelor's degree, Columbia Union College Foreign exchange local coordinator, American Councils for International Education

Defeated in the primary

Monica Lee Silbas
	Military veteran Former labor educator

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Maryland elections, 2016

Calvert County's school board election appeared on the ballot with races for U.S. president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state courts, and local courts.

School board primaries in Calvert County shared the ballot with the state's presidential and congressional primaries.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for Maryland school board elections in 2016:

Deadline	Event
February 3, 2016	Candidate filing deadline
March 22, 2016	First campaign finance deadline of election
April 14, 2016	First day of early voting for primary election
April 21, 2016	Last day of early voting for primary election
April 26, 2016	Primary election
October 27, 2016	First day of early voting for general election
November 3, 2016	Last day of early voting for general election
November 8, 2016	General election
November 22, 2016	Final campaign finance deadline of election

Endorsements

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

Candidates for public office in Maryland had until March 22, 2016, to submit their first contributions and expenditure report of the primary campaign. The final campaign finance deadline of the 2016 campaign was November 22, 2016. State law allows candidates to file Affidavits of Limited Contributions and Expenditures (ALCE) if their campaigns did not accept $1,000 in contributions or spend $1,000 in a particular reporting period.

October 28 filing

Candidates received a total of $935.00 and spent a total of $928.85 as of October 30, 2016, according to the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System.

District 1

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Stephen Jones Jr.	$400.00	$413.69	-$13.69
Dawn Balinski	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE

District 2

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Tracy McGuire (incumbent)	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Nancy Vaeth Highsmith	$0.00	$14.00	$1,204.01

District 3

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Kelly McConkey (incumbent)	$0.00	$0.00	$6,560.56
Erin Knowles	$535.00	$501.16	$33.84

March 22 filing

Candidates received a total of $3,395.00 and spent a total of $1,492.15 as of April 19, 2016, according to the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System.

District 1

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
James Piatt (incumbent)	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Stephen Jones Jr.	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Dawn Balinski	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE

District 2

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Tracy McGuire (incumbent)	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Nancy Vaeth Highsmith	$1,000.00	$905.99	$94.01
Casey Smith	$2,395.00	$586.16	$1,808.84

District 3

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Kelly McConkey (incumbent)	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Erin Knowles	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE
Monica Lee Silbas	ALCE	ALCE	ALCE

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2014 General Calvert County Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Pamela L. Cousins 28.4% 13,675      Nonpartisan William J. "Bill" Phalen 25.9% 12,478      Nonpartisan Dawn C. Balinski Incumbent 22.7% 10,926      Nonpartisan Eugene "Gene" Karol Incumbent 22.6% 10,898      Nonpartisan Write-in 0.4% 174 Total Votes 48,151 Source: Calvert County, Maryland, "Official 2014 General Election Results," accessed December 24, 2014 Primary Calvert County Public Schools, At-Large Primary Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan William J. "Bill" Phalen 23% 4,196      Nonpartisan Pamela L. Cousins 22.3% 4,082      Nonpartisan Eugene "Gene" Karol Incumbent 20.8% 3,805      Nonpartisan Dawn C. Balinski Incumbent 19.4% 3,540      Nonpartisan Billy Saunders 14.5% 2,647 Total Votes 18,270 Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election results for Calvert County," July 16, 2014 2012 Calvert County Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Joe R. Chenelly 54.6% 20,074      Nonpartisan Cliff Savoy 45.1% 16,567      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 93 Total Votes 36,734 Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2012 Presidential General Election Results," November 28, 2012 Calvert County Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Tracy McGuire 99.3% 33,751      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.5% 164      Nonpartisan Jason Phillip Delizio 0.3% 86 Total Votes 34,001 Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2012 Presidential General Election Results," November 28, 2012 Calvert County Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Kelly McConkey 53.3% 20,497      Nonpartisan Rose Crunkleton 46.5% 17,869      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 89 Total Votes 38,455 Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2012 Presidential General Election Results," November 28, 2012

What was at stake?

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About the district

See also: Calvert County Public Schools, Maryland

Calvert County Public Schools is located in Calvert County, Md.

Calvert County Public Schools is based in Prince Frederick, the county seat of Calvert County, Maryland. Calvert County was home to 90,613 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the 13th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 16,221 students.

Demographics

Calvert County underperformed in comparison to the state of Maryland in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.0 percent of Calvert County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 36.8 percent for Maryland as a whole. The median household income in Calvert County was $95,477, compared to $73,538 for the state of Maryland. The poverty rate in Calvert County was 4.9 percent, compared to 9.8 percent for the entire state.

Racial Demographics, 2014
Race	Calvert County (%)	Maryland (%)
White	81.8	60.1
Black or African American	13.2	30.3
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.4	0.6
Asian	1.7	6.4
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Two or More Races	2.8	2.6
Hispanic or Latino	3.5	9.3

Party registration, 2014
Party	Number of registered voters
Republican	23,750
Democratic	23,461
Unaffiliated	11,826
Other	489
Libertarian	248
Green	134
Total	59,908

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Calvert County Public Schools' 'Maryland'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Calvert County Public Schools elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Calvert County Public Schools	Maryland	School Boards
Calvert County Public Schools elections (2014) List of school districts in Maryland	Maryland school board elections, 2016 Public education in Maryland Local ballot measures, Maryland	School board elections, 2016 School board elections, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2015

External links

Suggest a link

• Calvert County Public Schools
• Maryland State Board of Elections