Citizens in Charge

Back in December, the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision that mandated signatures on referendum petitions exactly mirror signatures on voter registration cards. So, if someone is registered as “John Paul Smith” but signs a petition “John P. Smith” or “John Smith” then his signature is not counted. Dubbed the “mirror law”, referendum process supporters have charged that it makes it impossible to mount a successful referendum campaign in the state.

The issue got even more heated last month when a petition from Howard County, between Baltimore and Washington, DC, was thrown out after signatures were rejected because of the mirror law. Now the state General Assembly has gotten involved, and a bill aimed at cleaning up the mirror law was heard by a state Senate committee yesterday. Under the bill officials would be allowed to use “reasonable certainty” to verify signatures instead of the strict certanty the court mandates.

Support for the bill in committee was high, and it could pave the way to opening up the referendum process for Marylanders.