Election director outlines 2026 general-election preparations, training and equipment changes

Allison Murphy, the county election director, told the Caroline County Board of Elections that staff have already begun preparations for the 2026 general election and have been attending State Board of Elections and Maryland Association meetings to coordinate administration and training. "We, have already started with, preparations for the general election," Murphy said during the board meeting.

Murphy said staff demoed the new voting system and poll books at the Aug. 12 conference and provided voter-registration training to the Caroline County Republican Central Committee on Aug. 18 ahead of Summerfest. She also circulated voter-registration totals and an election-judge parity report for the board's review and asked the board to accept judge assignments for the 2026 general election based on that report.

Murphy described logistics staff are addressing, including training returning check-in judges, hands-on poll-book practice, and adding an extra scanner for the mail-in ballot canvas to cope with a larger ballot footprint. She said logic-and-accuracy testing is scheduled to begin this month and asked the board to formally direct staff to complete testing prior to the general election.