Tension and anxiety were written all over the faces of Councilman Chuck Ferrar and his Democratic primary opponent, Chris Trumbauer, inside the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections Annex in Glen Burnie. As soon as the results were finalized, one face turned to elation as the other showed signs of defeat.

With all of the provisional, military and absentee ballots tallied, challenger Chris Trumbauer came out ahead of incumbent Councilman Chuck Ferrar in the District 6 County Council Democratic primary. 

Coming into the day, Trumbauer was ahead by 50 votes. After today's count, he won by a slightly smaller margin of 46 votes. Trumbauer ended the day with 3,287, while Ferrar lagged behind at 3,241. 

As the count was being conducted, Trumbauer remained positive and optimistic, knowing that Ferrar had an uphill battle.

"I'm feeling good but there are still votes to be counted," said Trumbauer, earlier today. "For anyone who thinks their vote doesn't count, they should look to elections like this."

When the process began this morning, Ferrar had only one word to describe his feelings.

"Okay," he said tentatively. 

After the counting of provisional ballots, Ferrar had gained a total of seven votes, bringing Trumbauer's lead down to 43 votes, the closest it had been since election night. After the remaining 500 absentee ballots were tallied, Trumbauer got three of those votes back, bringing his margin of victory to 46. 

Looking toward the general election, Trumbauer explained that since the counting of votes continued into this week, whoever came out on top would have some ground to make up, since they missed out on a week of campaigning.

"Whoever wins is going to have a compressed campaign due to losing a week," said Trumbauer.

Trumbauer felt far from relieved after the victory, knowing the real fight has just begun.

"I feel relieved that the process is complete now," said Trumbauer. "We were very comfortable that the process works, and we're ready to pivot to the general election."

Trumbauer will face Republican Doug Burkhardt in the general election. Burkhardt expressed a feeling of relief that this part of the process is complete in a phone interview with Greater Annapolis Patch.

"I'm excited that this part of the process is behind us," said Burkhardt. "This is a tough time for Chuck [Ferrar], and our similarities were greater than our differences."

Burkhardt also explained that the election will give District 6 voters a "clear choice" between his platform and that of his opponent. 

"I look forward to debating the issues with Chris, and beginning the general election process," said Burkhardt.