Baltimore’s latest no-bid election contract is the last one, officials swear

For decades, Baltimore has been awarding contracts for election services to the same vendor, often with no bids. On Wednesday, it awarded one more.

After assurances that the agreement would be the city’s last, the Baltimore Board of Estimates approved the $1.6 million contract with McAfee Election Services to provide oversight during the city’s primary and general elections.

The contract is unusual among election boards across Maryland. Most manage their election warehouses and vote-counting operations with their own employees. Baltimore instead contracts with Sam McAfee, a former employee of the city who once ran the city’s election warehouse.

Election Director Clifford Tatum told members of the city spending board Wednesday that he has advertised for a new warehouse manager to take the reins after the 2026 election cycle.

Last year, members of the election board publicly discussed bidding out the contract, while noting that McAfee would likely have a substantial advantage when bidding on the work. Election officials, however, ultimately found that McAfee’s expertise could not be “replicated or mastered” within the time needed for the city to sign on a new contractor, according to the Board of Estimates agenda.

Maryland’s Primary Day on June 23 is fast approaching. Early voting will begin June 11, and mail-in ballots will begin to be sent to voters by early May.

“I do not believe we could afford or justify that type of deployment with a new vendor who didn’t fully understand the wards and precincts of Baltimore City and the processes necessary to support voting and tabulation during early voting and Election Day,” Tatum told the board.

McAfee has operated McAfee Election Services since shortly after he resigned from the city in 1996. McAfee lives in Florida and returns to the city seasonally for election operations. His contract calls for his company to provide supervisory personnel for 60 days prior to an election and for 14 days afterward.

McAfee is responsible for organizing and preparing the election warehouse, servicing voting machines and ballot scanners, setting up early voting sites and overseeing vote counting.

Tatum said he hopes to have the new warehouse director on staff before the June primary so that person can shadow McAfee. The new staffer will at least have the chance to observe McAfee during the November general election.

The push to handle election work internally coincides with new leadership at the helm of the Baltimore City Board of Elections for the first time in nearly two decades. Tatum, who came to Baltimore late last year from Harris County, Texas, replaced longtime director Armstead Jones, who died shortly after announcing his retirement in April.

Baltimore’s elections have had a series of problems over the past few cycles.

In the 2020 primary, the state wiped preliminary results on election night after a few hours of counting because the reported totals were wildly off from expectations. In 2022, elections workers misplaced flash drives from ballot machines, which delayed the reporting of results. In the 2024 primary, city officials overreported 590 votes. The error was later caught in an audit.

During public meetings of the board, Tatum pledged to modernize the city’s operation, which has been housed in beleaguered facilities.

The city’s election warehouse was the subject of a Maryland Occupational Safety and Health report last year that cited the property with 19 violations, two deemed “serious.” The Department of Homeland Security also inspected the space and flagged concerns. Tatum has announced plans to move the warehouse to a new building in 2027.

The Board of Estimates only briefly discussed the contract Wednesday and greeted Tatum with enthusiasm.

“I want to say, ‘Welcome, sir, and amen, hallelujah,’” said Mayor Brandon Scott after Tatum explained his plan.

“We are grateful to have you here serving in this role,” said Council President Zeke Cohen as Comptroller Bill Henry nodded emphatically.

Banner reporter Lee O. Sanderlin contributed to this article.