Category Archives: Election Law

JUST IN: Voting Rights Bill Veto Overridden In The House [UPDATED]

Jonathan Shurberg   January 20, 2016   No Comments on JUST IN: Voting Rights Bill Veto Overridden In The House [UPDATED]

Vote was 85-56. No votes to spare. At least two votes flipped. That’s all I know right now. This was the heaviest lift of all the overrides and the most important. Good news - more later as I get details. UPDATE: Courtesy of David Moon on FB, here’s a photo of the vote board. Pam Beidle and Charlie Barkley flipped…. Read more »

Modernizing Voter Registration

Jonathan Shurberg   January 8, 2016   No Comments on Modernizing Voter Registration

An op-ed in today’s Baltimore Sun from Delegates Shelly Hettleman, Sandy Rosenberg, and Mary Washington on the House version of a bill to provide for automatic voter registration of eligible voters using MVA and other government agency data. Clap, clap, clap. Beginning the process of bringing our voter registration systems out of the 19th century and into the 21st is… Read more »

The Most Important Veto Override

Jonathan Shurberg   December 28, 2015   No Comments on The Most Important Veto Override

In 16 days, the General Assembly goes back to work. There will be many story lines, not least of which seeing how things go for the five officeholders who are running for Congress in CD4 and CD8. But the first order of business for the legislature will be the prospect of whether to override Governor Larry Hogan’s four vetoes. There… Read more »

California Anti-Transgender Ballot Measure Fails

Jonathan Shurberg   December 21, 2015   No Comments on California Anti-Transgender Ballot Measure Fails

Here’s some good news as we find ourselves in the midst of the longest night of the year. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness, right? Well, here’s a candle. Backers of a proposed ballot initiative that sought to require transgender people to use the public restrooms that correspond with their biological sex say they have failed to qualify the… Read more »

“A Very Democratic Arrangement”

Jonathan Shurberg   December 21, 2015   No Comments on “A Very Democratic Arrangement”

The Frederick News-Post has an editorial  today in favor of the concept of universal voter registration. Smart folks, those FNPers. One might reasonably ask why someone should be required to register to vote when he or she is already an eligible voter. Maryland’s process could involve using various databases to identify qualified voters and then automatically registering them to vote. There… Read more »

Automatic Voter Registration

Jonathan Shurberg   December 11, 2015   No Comments on Automatic Voter Registration

State Senator Roger Manno and Delegate Eric Luedtke are proposing a bill to provide for automatic registration of eligible voters from the records of various state agencies. The Baltimore Sun reported: Maryland’s top Democrats are looking at legislation that would automatically put every eligible state resident on the voting rolls, abandoning the traditional registration system. Senate President Thomas V. Mike… Read more »

Supreme Court Gives New Life To MD Gerrymander Case

Jonathan Shurberg   December 8, 2015   No Comments on Supreme Court Gives New Life To MD Gerrymander Case

I’ve written about this previously, and today the Supreme Court breathed new life into a gerrymandering claim against Maryland’s 2011 congressional redistricting plan. By a unanimous vote of 9-0, the Court (per Justice Scalia) sent the case back to the district court to convene a three judge panel to hear the case on the merits. As previously noted, the precise issue before… Read more »

MoCo Elections Board Violated Open Meetings Law

Jonathan Shurberg   December 5, 2015   No Comments on MoCo Elections Board Violated Open Meetings Law

Back a couple of months ago, the Montgomery County Board of Elections (with a Republican majority as a result of Larry Hogan’s victory in 2014) attempted to shift two early voting sites from Burtonsville and Chevy Chase to Brookeville and Potomac. This created a huge uproar, which resulted in the proposed changes being rejected by the State Board and the… Read more »

BOE Approval Includes Promise To Seek 10th EV Site

Jonathan Shurberg   October 19, 2015   No Comments on BOE Approval Includes Promise To Seek 10th EV Site

Per an email from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, part of the approval of the nine original early vote sites was the promise by the MCDCC and the county’s Annapolis delegation to seek a 10th county early vote site during the 2016 session. I assume that this 10th site, if authorized, will end up being located in Potomac. A… Read more »