State Feed: Maryland

MARYLAND: Queen Anne's County Big Box Petition Submits Signatures

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:26:58 -0400

About 15 Queen Anne’s County residents submitted about 2,300 signatures Friday afternoon to the Queen Anne’s County Board of Elections in an effort to send the county’s recently passed big box ordinance to a referendum in the 2012 General Election.

“We believe we are submitting 2,347 valid signatures against a requirement of about 1,600,” Jim Campbell said Friday in the lobby of the Board of Elections.

Maryland: Democracy Not Appropriate in Public

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:19:50 -0400

Queen Anne’s County residents who are attempting to have the “big box” ordinance put on the ballot next fall say they encountered problems at locations where they hoped to gather signatures over the last week. According to police, petitioning isn’t “appropriate activity” for public areas.

Maryland Court to Review Immigrant Tuition Petition

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:00:20 -0400

Opponents of a new Maryland law that would give undocumented immigrants breaks on in-state college tuition have no right to force a referendum, an immigrant rights group charged Monday in a lawsuit seeking to keep the issue off the 2012 ballot.

Casa of Maryland, a group often allied with the state’s Democratic leaders, alleges that state elections officials erred in letting opponents collect signatures to suspend the Maryland DREAM Act, the first state law in 20 years to be halted and sent to the ballot by a petition drive.

Peoples' Veto Referendum Petitions Approved for Ballot in Ohio, Maryland

Staff — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:40:03 -0400

Voters in Ohio and Maryland will decide whether to veto acts of their state legislature in November. Ohio voters will weigh in on Senate Bill 5, and Maryland voters will decide whether to keep the “Dream Act.”

Maryland: Online signatures help referendum campaign

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:15:32 -0400

Last week, Del. Neil C. Parrott and others won a key victory in their campaign to repeal a new law allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges. Elections officials announced that the opponents had enough signatures to suspend the law and put it to a statewide vote next year.

Read the story from The Washington Post

Online Signatures Help Maryland Referendum Campaign Reach Goal

Staff — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:46:40 -0400

Maryland citizens have the ability to collect signatures and force a statewide referendum vote on laws passed by the legislature. However, for nearly three decades no campaign has ever been able to collect enough to make it to the ballot. Online petition signatures helped change that:

Last week, Del. Neil C. Parrott and others won a key victory in their campaign to repeal a new law allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges. Elections officials announced that the opponents had enough signatures to suspend the law and put it to a statewide vote next year.

Maryland: Maryland Republican wants more time and less deadlines for initiatives

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:31:46 -0400

Del. Patrick McDonough, a key Republican behind a popular effort to stop in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, said Maryland should give petition drives more time and fewer deadlines. The Baltimore County conservative stalwart says petitioners should have 90 days, instead of 60, to collect the 55,000-plus signatures needed to get a referendum on the ballot. He also wants to do away with the rule requiring one-third of the signatures in the first 30 days.

Read the story from The Baltimore Sun

Poor Petition Penmanship OK In Maryland, Just Get Your Initials Right

Staff — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:40:43 -0400

Maryland’s Court of Appeals decided Tuesday that petition signatures cannot be disqualified solely because they are illegible. The majority opinion of the state’s highest court says,

We hold that a signature on a petition for referendum is but one component of the voter’s identity that is to be considered in the validation process… An illegible signature, on its own, does not preclude validation.

Blocking Democracy Blockers - Supporting Maryland's Anti-Intimidation Bill

Staff — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:45:01 -0500

Today I will be presenting the following testimony before the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee in support of House Bill 101.

Petition Blocking: Should We Let Democracy Get Tackled?

Staff — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:40:26 -0500

Early this morning I made the short drive to Annapolis, Maryland, to meet with Delegate Samuel Rosenberg (D-Baltimore) to ask what Citizens in Charge could do to support his bill aimed at preventing petition blocking and voter intimidation bill and help make it law in the Old Line State. Luckily, Del. Rosenberg asked us to do what we do best in the case: show that this reform will benefit all citizens no matter what their political leanings on any given issue.

Basically, Del. Rosenberg’s bill prevents democracy from being blocked and tackled.

Howard County, Maryland: Officials Turn to Violence to Keep Signatures Off Petition

Staff — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:34:07 -0500

It’s long been known that officials in Howard County, MD are no fans of citizens’ petition rights, but as Larry Carson at the Baltimore Sun reports, the county now seems willing to resort to violence in order to keep petitions from being circulated.

Civil Rights Groups Start Petition Against DC Metro "Security Theater"

Staff — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:15:14 -0500

As air travelers continue to voice their discontent with the Transportation Safety Administration’s invasive new security procedures, Washington DC’s Metro transit system has instituted random bag searches, and many travelers are just as unhappy about the “Security Theater” on the train as in the airport.

4th Circuit Court of Appeals Hearing on Maryland's Signature Restrictions Dec. 9th

Staff — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:56:34 -0500

A hearing will be held next Thursday, December 9th at the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, VA to determine whether Maryland’s election law imposes constitutionally impermissible limitations on the right of referendum by requiring an excessive “triple match” on petition signatures. The case is called Paul Kendall v. v. Ann Balcerzak and will be heard by Panel III, Courtroom 3, Room 223 at 9:30 AM.

Red Light Cameras Routed at Ballot Box - Including in America's 4th Largest City

Staff — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:22:14 -0500

After blogging yesterday about traffic enforcement cameras in Ohio, a reader pointed me to this excellent breakdown of red-light and speed camera votes around the country from TheNewspaper.com. According to the article, the cameras have never survived a public vote: they usually lose by margins of two-to-one.

Among the five additional communities to ban cameras is Houston, Texas - America’s fourth largest city:

Maryland: Appeals Court brings initiative back to life

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:21:28 -0400

The red-robed judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals had tough questions Wednesday for Kevin Karpinski, the lawyer representing Montgomery County’s Board of Elections, peppering him with openly skeptical queries and comments about why thousands of residents who sought to challenge a county law imposing ambulance fees saw their signatures scratched by elections officials.

Read the story from the Washington Post

Maryland Voters' Rights Restored

Staff — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:24:09 -0400

Good news out of Maryland today in the Washington Post. There had been some shenanigans with thousands of signatures being tossed out by election officials and a judge:

Maryland: Ambulance fee and term limits measures probably won't make ballot

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:49:09 -0400

Two high-profile ballot initiatives designed to scrap a new ambulance fee and impose term limits for elected officials failed to make the ballot in Montgomery County because of a new standard for signatures that some argue makes it nearly impossible to land voter referendums on the ballot in Maryland, The Washington Examiner reports. The majority of more than 30,000 signatures to do away with the recently adopted ambulance fee aren’t valid, according to local election officials. And the author of a petition to put term limits on the county executive and council expects the same fate.

No "Widespread Fraud" Found in Slots Referendum, Says Maryland's Highest Court

Staff — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:30:42 -0400

After months of litigation surrounding allegations of signature fraud, the Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that the Arundel Mills Slots Referendum will go on the Anne Arundel County ballot in November.

Citizens' Rights Safe in Many States as State Legislatures End Sessions

Staff — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:23:59 -0400

Of the 45 states whose legislatures hold sessions in 2010, 27 of them have adjourned for the year, and 5 more will wrap up before the end of the month. Of the more than 80 bills dealing with the initiative and referendum process in various states, 51 of them would have reduced citizens’ initiative rights. Thanks to the work of activists in our coalitions, only 3 bills reducing citizen’s rights have passed and become law.

Another Referendum Effort Falls Victim to Maryland's Absurd Signature Requirements

Staff — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:34:44 -0400

We’ve been telling you for some time about Maryland’s ridiculously strict requirements for a valid signature on a referendum petition. That requirement has taken out another effort by citizens to exercise their referendum rights in Howard County as 36% of their petition signatures were rejected.