41,771 voters decided Howard County in 2022. Here's who picks your next leader in 2026.

In 2022, 41,771 Democrats decided Howard County's leadership. Meanwhile, 67,884 unaffiliated voters had no vote at all. On June 23, 2026, the same system…

This isn't a partisan post. It's a math post. The League of Women Voters of Howard County put out a flyer last week that I want every voter in District 9A to see. Five of six county level positions — the County Executive and four of the five County Council districts — "will be elected on June 23, 2026, in the Democratic Primary." Read that sentence twice. Not "the Democratic primary will narrow the field." Not "the winner will face a Republican challenger in November." Decided. In the primary. Because no Republican candidate filed for any of those races. I want to walk through what that actually means, who gets to vote, and why I think this is the most important under discussed story of the 2026 election cycle in Howard County. Every number that follows comes from the Maryland State Board of Elections. The current registration numbers As of March 2026, Howard County has 242,459 registered voters: Democrats: 122,907 — 50.7% of the county Republicans: 47,777 — 19.7% Unaffiliated: 67,884 — 28.0% Other parties combined: 3,891 — about 1.6% So roughly half the county's voters are Democrats. About one in five are Republicans. And more than one in four are unaffiliated with any party — what most people call Independents. The fastest growing voter bloc in Howard County is "none of the above." Compare those March 2026 numbers to the 2022 primary registration totals from the same source. In four years, Democratic registration in Howard County grew by about 2,900 voters — but their share of the county dropped from 52.6% to 50.7%. Republican registration actually declined by about 1,275 voters, and their share dropped from 21.5% to 19.7%. Unaffiliated registration grew by 12,271 voters in those same four years. Their share went from 24.4% to 28.0% — a gain of 3.6 percentage points…