No recount in tight primary for Carroll County state’s attorney

No recount will take place in the Republican primary election for Carroll County state’s attorney, which was decided by fewer than 200 votes, the county’s election director confirmed.

Allan Culver, who lost to George Psoras by 176 votes in last month’s primary, did not request a recount by the Thursday deadline, Carroll County Election Director Erin Perrone confirmed Tuesday.

Culver, who serves as special counsel in the state’s attorney’s office, did not respond to requests for comment. His campaign Facebook page appears to have been deactivated.

Psoras, a personal injury attorney, won with 7,920 votes and just 50.56% of the total, election returns show. Culver, who previously served as interim state’s attorney, received 7,744 votes, good for 49.44%.

There are no Democrats in the race, meaning Psoras is set to succeed Haven Shoemaker Jr., who was elected in 2022 and is retiring when his term ends.

While Psoras positioned himself as an outsider, Culver had the support of many prominent elected officials in the county. He ran on a slate with incumbent Sheriff James DeWees, who won his primary easily.

Both candidates nodded to national politics, describing themselves as conservative Republicans and pledging support for police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Psoras vowed to “make crime illegal again.”

But the effectiveness of the office and the integrity of its head came to define the race.

Psoras argued the state’s attorney’s office was frequently losing winnable cases, and his supporters created websites bringing attention to a 2022 scandal during Culver’s time as interim state’s attorney.

All of the sitting judges in the county recused themselves from cases involving Culver and a former deputy prosecutor, multiple news outlets reported, after the office was found to have withheld exculpatory evidence. A defendant’s drug conviction was overturned after it was revealed that prosecutors had failed to disclose misconduct by a sheriff’s deputy.

In a July 7 Facebook post claiming victory, Psoras said he was “deeply honored and humbled by the trust the people of Carroll County have placed in me by electing me as your next State’s Attorney.”

“This campaign was never just about winning an election,” he wrote. “It was about restoring confidence in the State’s Attorney’s Office and building an office defined by integrity, professionalism, accountability, and a steadfast commitment to justice.”