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March 28, 2023

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

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A Legislative Session Like No Other: Md. General Assembly Session Opens Today

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The 442nd session of the Maryland General Assembly opens today under conditions that were completely unimaginable a year ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a broad and deep public health crisis and has devastated the state economy. In many ways, that’s the essence of what the 2021 legislative session will be about.

Beyond the policy challenges, the pandemic has completely changed how lawmakers will do their jobs over the next 90 days. They’ll hold virtual hearings, meet in floor sessions surrounded by plastic shields, and, in the case of the House of Delegates, convene in two separate places simultaneously. The State House will be sealed shut. Lobbyists and advocates barely will be visible. The nightly party scene will be nil.

On top of that, the session begins with American democracy under attack — amid fears that the Maryland State House and 49 other state capitals could be targeted by the same extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol a week ago.

State officials have promised to beef up security in and around the State House, and Governor Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) offered assurances that the people’s business can be conducted safely.

Gov. Larry Hogan

“Trust me, we’re not going to leave ourselves unprotected,” he said Tuesday.

The COVID-19 virus and its economic aftermath pose the biggest challenges to lawmakers as they go about  business and set policy agendas for the next three months. Hogan and Democratic legislative leaders say they will devote their time to helping the neediest — those who have lost jobs, face evictions, and have, in myriad ways, been ravaged by the pandemic. But small businesses need help as well, and local governments are also struggling to meet the demands of their constituents.

Maryland policymakers also have unfinished business from last year, when the legislative session was cut short three weeks by the pandemic. It was the first time the legislature went home early since the Civil War.

Even as they agree on overarching priorities for the session, Hogan and the Democrats do not see eye-to-eye on solutions. Hogan and legislative Republicans will be reluctant to raise taxes or spend liberally. Democrats, buoyed by knowledge that President-elect Joe Biden and an all-Democratic Congress are about to take over in Washington, D.C., seem more anxious to be generous with the state exchequer at a time of great need in so many communities.

Even so, Democrats will be under intense pressure from their left flank to spend even more — and to enact more progressive policies in a variety of areas.

The day before the legislative session is often a time for partisan politicking, and even under the unique circumstances, Tuesday was no exception.

Maryland Democrats held their annual pre-session luncheon virtually, and Hogan gave a pre-session news conference to announce his latest effort to bring nonpartisan redistricting to the state — leavened with a fresh dose of criticism for State House Democrats.

“Sadly, but not surprisingly, legislators have refused to act,” he said.

The Democratic agenda 

At the Maryland Democratic Party’s annual virtual luncheon, legislative leaders laid out some of their ambitious plans for the unusual 2021 session, including cracking down on slow unemployment payments and reforming law enforcement policy.

Senate Pres. Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) offer support for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform bill during a hearing in February. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines, Maryland Matters

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said robust state COVID-19 relief, coupled with a slew of long-term reforms, will be among the legislature’s top efforts during the upcoming session.

Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) highlighted the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color.

“The gaps that we all knew existed have simply been exacerbated,” Ferguson said. “They have gone from gaps to canyons.”

Their remarks came a day after Hogan outlined his plans for a state stimulus package through a mix of targeted tax cuts and tapping a portion of the state’s rainy day fund. Jones didn’t address Hogan’s proposed stimulus, but pledged to look at “targeted relief” during the upcoming session.

“We will look at targeted state relief to families and small businesses with utility payments,” Jones said. “And we’ll look to help some of our hardest hit industries,” such as restaurants.

She called the state’s BEACON unemployment benefits system, which was rolled out during the pandemic, “outrageously broken” due to the long wait times some Marylanders have experienced — and pledged to add statutory requirements to the system.

“While this has been an unprecedented strain on the system, we can do better,” Jones said. “Every Marylander who is eligible and needs help, should get help — and quickly.”

Many of Jones’ top agenda items for the upcoming session could impact the state long after the pandemic is over. She predicted the House will override Hogan’s veto on the sweeping Kirwan education reforms.

That veto could come later in the session, lawmakers told Maryland Matters. While Republican lawmakers have pushed back on passage of those multibillion-dollar reforms amid the pandemic, the Department of Legislative Services said the state has enough money to fund the Kirwan efforts through 2026.

Jones also intends to enact the House Workgroup to Address Police Reform and Accountability’s recommendations during the session, including banning no-knock warrants and police chokeholds.

Jones said the House will repeal Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. And Jones plans to outline her agenda for racial and economic justice in the coming days.

“Corporate boards should look like their customers,” Jones said. “Black homes should be appraised for the same amount as their white neighbors. Great ideas and businesses should get credit because they’re great ideas, not because they’re the ideas of the connected class.”

Some of the House’s earliest planned legislation is aimed at preventing another six-figure payout by the Maryland Environmental Service, like the one former director Roy McGrath received when he left the agency last year to become Hogan’s chief of staff.

Jones said the bill will address what she called the “outrageous abuse of power and misuse of state money at that agency.”

“No one is above the law,” she added.

Jones also said the House will make mail-in voting a permanent option for Marylanders. How that will be done is not immediately clear, since absentee ballots were available under certain circumstances before the pandemic. Voting by mail skyrocketed during Maryland’s statewide elections in 2020, with an unprecedented number of voters opting to cast ballots by mail instead of at a traditional polling place.

Other election reform efforts are also expected during the legislative session: Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery) told members of the State Board of Elections during a Tuesday afternoon meeting that she intends to introduce what she calls a “kitchen sink” bill to look at several election-related reforms.

Beyond his $1 billion COVID relief package, Hogan has yet to lay out any priorities for the General Assembly session.

Day-to-day security 

Lawmakers will face a series of new security procedures around the capitol complex ― related to the pandemic, as well as heightened political tension and possible violence.

To gain entry to the State House campus each day, lawmakers and staff will answer a health questionnaire through an app on their cell phones.

Security changes include increased police officers and security, increased identification procedures to get inside buildings and limiting proximity to all buildings, said Nick Cavey, spokesman for the Department of General Services.

“These actions are being taken as a precaution for the safety of all persons doing business on state property and will ensure the protection of state employees, our buildings and grounds, and visitors to our Annapolis complex buildings,” Cavey said.

In the event of an attack, local police agencies, the Maryland State Police and the National Guard are available for reinforcement.

Hogan announced Tuesday that the Maryland National Guard deployment in D.C. would be doubled, but  said there’s still adequate personnel to reinforce the State House, if necessary.

“I’m comfortable, though we’re not sure what we may see, that we’ll be better prepared than they were on Capitol Hill last Wednesday,” he said.

Asked about an FBI bulletin warning of widespread armed protests at state capitols, Hogan said officials have received hundreds of death threats, but no specific plans to attack the State House have been uncovered. “We do not have any credible, detailed threats here. Look, a lot of this is real. And a lot of it is fake. There’s disinformation all over the internet,” Hogan said.

By Josh Kurtz, Bennett Leckrone, and Danielle E. Gaines

In an Anxiety-Ridden Year, U.S. Voter Turnout Rate Highest Since 1900

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More people voted in this year’s election than ever before, some motivated by fear, some by peer influence, some by the wide options available for voting, some by social media and still others by love or hate for President Donald Trump.

As of Thursday, an estimated 159 million people, accounting for 66.4% of the eligible voting population, cast ballots in this election, according to the University of Florida’s United States Elections Project. That exceeds the turnout percentages for the past 120 years, going back to the 1900 race, when 73.2% of the voting eligible population cast ballots, ultimately re-electing President William McKinley over Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan.

“High turnout is a sign of a healthy democracy,” Michael McDonald, who runs the Elections Project, wrote in USA Today on Wednesday.

He also pointed to a pre-election Gallup Poll in which 77% of registered voters said the 2020 election mattered more to them than previous elections – the highest level since the polling firm started asking that question in 1996. Still, over one-third of voting eligible people did not cast a ballot in this election.

Experts say fear of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and about the economy, strong feelings about Trump, the current social climate and peer influences, among other factors, spawned this historic turnout. And many states still are tabulating ballots.

Following an established pattern since at least 2000, turnout rates were especially high in key swing states. Over 75% of eligible voters cast ballots in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Iowa, while over 70% of eligible voters did so in Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Florida. Georgia received ballots from just under 70% of eligible voters.

“There’s a couple of things going on there,” said Michael Hanmer, research director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civil Engagement.

“The feeling that something more is at stake could be part of the internal motivator” for individual voters, Hanmer said, in states where, because of the Electoral College system, a vote for Trump wouldn’t have much impact in a state that voted Democratic, and a vote for Biden wouldn’t count for much in a state that voted Republican.

Voters in the battleground states don’t have that concern. Campaigns spend more energy and money in states that could go either way.

“It’s harder in those states to ignore what’s going on. It’s going to be on TV, it’s going to be on radio, it’s more likely to be on their social media, they’re more likely to get a door knock,” Hanmer said.

Non-swing states with especially high turnout rates, estimated by the Elections Project, were Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington and Oregon – all saw three-quarters or more of their eligible voters cast ballots. Maryland ranked fifteenth in voter turnout, with just over 72% of eligible voters, according to the Elections Project estimates.

The availability of mail-in voting and early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to high turnout in some states. In Maryland, about half of the state’s voters mailed in their ballots.

Historically, states that regularly conduct elections by mail, such as Oregon, have greater voter turnout than those states that traditionally do not use the mails for balloting.

In Pennsylvania, where ballots still were being counted, Secretary of State Kathy Bookvar told reporters Thursday that she expected a very high turnout in the battleground state.

“Pennsylvanians have had more choices this year than in the history of the commonwealth,” she said.

Hanmer said that voting law changes to accommodate the pandemic likely generated some turnout, but added that since even many states that did not make these changes, like Texas, saw increased turnout, there were other factors at play as well.

“I really think that the turnout story for this election is more about general interest and mobilization,” Hanmer said.

The pandemic may have been responsible for some of this mobilization: “We’ve had our lives upended and we’re in this environment where our physical social circles have largely shrunk, and we’re really hard pressed to avoid coverage of what’s going on in the news,” Hanmer said.

David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center, said usually “what increases voter turnout is the quality of the candidates,” but this year is historic in that high voter turnout seemed to be primarily motivated by fear.

“it’s just ironic to me that Joe Biden … has the ability to get the most votes, ever, ever, and he’s not the person that people are excited about,” Paleologos said.

Memories of Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016 may also have spurred additional turnout for Biden.

“People didn’t get out to vote because they assumed she was going to win,” Paleologos said, adding that there wasn’t “that element of surprise” this time around.

Hanmer also suspects social media and peer influence contributed to the high turnout.

“A lot of people were engaged this year in contacting other people, and I mean just regular people contacting their friends, not necessarily always part of some wider formal campaign activity,” Hanmer said. “That’s just been increasingly common as a tactic.”

Alexandra Palm, a 24-year-old nanny and pizza deliverer in Spokane, Washington, said she did not want to vote this year, but was shamed into casting a ballot for Biden.

“On social media is where I felt shamed a lot,” Palm said. She said that it wasn’t usually personally directed toward her, but “if I ever brought up that I was not voting, there was never a time when someone would just ever respect that decision, ever.”

Instead, she said people told her she couldn’t complain about election results if she didn’t vote, and that if she didn’t vote for Biden it counted as a vote for Trump. Her father and people on social media told her “you have to vote, you have to vote, you have to vote,” she said.

Ralph Watkins, a volunteer with the League of Women Voters, said “just the tone overall seemed to be far stronger than in many recent elections.”

“Democrats were very passionate about wanting to turn (Trump) out of office, and many Republicans were equally passionate about wanting to keep (Trump) in office,” Watkins said.

Watkins said the pandemic and the resulting economic downturn generated turnout along party lines: those who worried more about the economy tended to vote Republican, while those who worried more about the pandemic tended to vote Democrat.

Additionally, “concerns about racism are really critical, and turnout in African American areas was very high and very democratic,” Watkins said.

Marqus Shaw, 35, of Oklahoma City, voted for Biden — his first time voting. He said it was mainly to vote against Donald Trump.

“(Biden)’s better than Trump to me,” Shaw said. “Trump just says things that you shouldn’t say, he shows no compassion, and he’s a racist.”

In the past, Shaw said, he has felt like his vote wouldn’t matter, but this year he said he “just can’t take Trump anymore.”

Paleologos said turnout driven by fear “doesn’t bode well for the system at large” and may indicate a failure of the party system.

“If we’re going to have two parties, the key is for the party system to enable and support candidates who have broad appeal,” he said. “Right now we don’t have that. Right now the party system thrives on negativity.”

By Gracie Todd and Luciana Perez Uribe

Biden Elected 46th President of the United States

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After more than three days of uncertainty in a closely-contested race, former Vice President Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States.

California Sen. Kamala Harris also made history, as she will become the first woman — and first woman of color — to hold the vice-presidency. She is of Jamaican and Indian descent.

“America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country,” Biden tweeted just before noon Saturday. “The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a president for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.”

After four days of waiting, news organizations declared Biden the winner late Saturday morning after new returns from his native state of Pennsylvania made it clear he would take the battleground and its 20 Electoral College votes, giving him 3 votes more than needed to make him president.

The president-elect, who turns 78 on Nov. 20, began his political career with narrow victories in Delaware and election to the United States Senate in 1972 weeks before he turned 30. He twice previously ran unsuccessfully for the presidency – in 1988 (ended after just three and a half months in 1987) and again in 2008. He will finally make it to the White House with another close win.

He amassed more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history, breaking the record that President Barack Obama set in 2008.

Harris’s ascension to the vice presidency will be “really wonderful for the United States,” said William Spriggs, an economics professor at the Californian’s alma mater, Howard University, an historically black institution in Washington.

“I think this will start a legacy that Americans will finally get used to the idea of women in leadership, and accept her role as setting the mark and paving a path for other women to ascend to top leadership,” Spriggs told Capital News Service.

Harris, 56, is a challenger-turned-ally of Biden. A rising progressive star, she attacked him during the primary for his opposition to busing to desegregate schools. She also set herself apart from the political veteran by embracing the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-All, as well as calling for a ban on fracking.

Harris is expected to bring a more progressive perspective to the moderate president-elect’s agenda.

With the coronavirus pandemic raging across the nation, it appears unlikely that Biden and Harris would celebrate the start of their administration in the traditional manner that would call for an oath-taking ceremony Jan. 20 on the West Front of the United States Capitol, witnessed by massive crowds stretching for blocks on the National Mall.

The inauguration plans are to come, but Biden and Harris already have activated a website for the transition and are assembling a transition team. As a symbol of the coming change in power, the United States Secret Service earlier in the week dispatched additional agents to the Biden home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Federal Aviation Administration designed the skies above that home as restricted airspace.

Despite the pandemic — or many experts believe because of the various voting methods it made necessary — the total turnout for this election is expected to break a 120-year-old record.

Michael Hanmer, research director for the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civil Engagement, said “motivational factors (to vote) were just more present” in this election, though voting law changes to accommodate the pandemic also played a part.

The small margin of victory, combined with the overwhelming use of mail-in ballots, appeared to infuriate the president, as he continued to falsely claim that he was cheated out of reelection. Some of his Republican allies made similar unfounded attacks, while others in the GOP – mainly those out of office – denounced Trump’s accusations as dangerous and irresponsible.

Trump had repeatedly questioned the legality of mail-in ballots and discouraged his supporters from voting by mail. As a result, mail-in ballots in many states with little history of using that voting method leaned very heavily to Biden.

Many states counted mail-in ballots after tabulating Election Day ballots cast in-person, initially generating the appearance of a Republican surge in some of the battleground states. But the counting of the mail-in ballots – a slow process – began producing a Democratic counter-wave that materialized as early as Wednesday.

Multiple networks — including ABC, NBC, MSNBC, and CBS — cut away almost at the start of a Trump speech in the White House Thursday night when the president leveled baseless and false claims about the vote counts.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” Trump claimed.

No credible evidence of fraud has been produced, according to the Associated Press.

The president’s claims of cheating were “especially disconcerting because the dangers of Trump’s rhetoric will outlive his time in the office,” Peter Ubertaccio, dean of arts and sciences at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, told CNS.

Millions of people believe Trump’s accusations of voter fraud despite no neutral observers stepping in to raise concerns about legitimacy, he said. This will, in turn, lead many citizens to believe that this election was stolen from Trump, Ubertaccio added.

“On the list of dangerous things Donald Trump has done, this ranks pretty highly — he has basically called American elections illegitimate because they didn’t go his way,” Ubertaccio said.

While counting of votes continued, the Trump campaign filed lawsuits to stop the counts in Michigan, Georgia — where federal judges rejected them — and Pennsylvania.

Caleb Jackson, a voting rights attorney at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, called the lawsuits “absolutely frivolous and meritless” that “will not get them anywhere and not have an impact on the election.”

In states where mail-in ballots seemed to be benefitting Trump a bit more, such as Arizona, the president and his allies urged election officials to count every vote.

“Of course it’s contradictory,” Jackson said. “There’s nothing legally that bars them from making those arguments, but, you know, professionally and ethically…it goes against what you swear to do as an attorney.”

In states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia, automatic recounts will be generated if the margins are 0.5% or less. But recounts also can be requested by Trump’s team and were expected.

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has announced Friday that there will be a recount in his state.

But Biden’s victory, especially given the closeness of this race, does not indicate that it would necessarily open the way for significant policy changes, Ubertaccio said.

“We are a 50/50 country, and partisans on both sides have an active dislike of the folks on the other side,” said Ubertaccio. “Even landslide victories don’t by themselves indicate long-term changes to American politics.”

If Republicans retain control of the Senate, which is not yet clear, Biden would have a hard time getting legislation to pass without the acquiescence of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

While it was Biden who often negotiated with McConnell during the Obama years over budget deals and other legislation – both drawing on their long relationship with each other – the new president would be dealing with very different political dynamics after a hard-fought, divisive election.

With Senate races waiting to be called, the current makeup is even with 48 members projected to be on each side of the aisle, and two runoff elections in Georgia in January present the Democrats with an opportunity to take control of the chamber.

Even so, it was the stark contrast between Biden’s progressive agenda and Trump administration policies that “helped drive turnout,” Hanmer said.

“Most people had a pretty good understanding of what they would get with Donald Trump if he were to win, and what they would get from Joe Biden if he were to win,” he added.

By Kaanita Iyer, Jacob Rousseau, Gracie Todd, Luciana Perez-Uribe, Aneurin Canham-Clyne, and Michelle Siegel

What Will We Know and When Will We Know it on Tuesday (Or Later)?

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With record voter turnout, including a high volume of mail-in ballots, and mail delays expected, it is unclear whether we will know who the next president is on election night, experts say.

“I’ve been expecting the unexpected,” said Michael Hanmer, research director at the Center for American Politics and Citizenship, a nonpartisan research center at the University of Maryland, College Park. “I think that’s the best way to work through this because there’s so many different possibilities.”

However, Hanmer told Capital News Service it’s “pretty safe to say” that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is headed for a significant popular vote margin over President Donald Trump. But, similar to 2016, determining the next occupant of the Oval Office is going to come down to the Electoral College – and it’s possible this year that may not be settled until some days after Tuesday.

As of Friday morning, nearly 83.5 million early votes were already cast, of which nearly 54 million, or 64.6%, were mailed, according to the University of Florida’s United States Elections Project.

But in many states, including four of eight battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — ballots are not allowed to be counted until Election Day.

Twenty-one states, plus the District of Columbia, accept ballots up to 17 days after Election Day. Of these, two are battleground states: Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

New York and Alaska, which accept mail-in ballots 7 and 10 days after Election Day, respectively, have said that they will not report “any mail votes on election night,” according to the New York Times.

In the battleground state of Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has estimated her count may be completed by Nov. 6, three days after Election Day. Pennsylvania, another battleground, may get the bulk of its votes tallied within a couple of days, according to Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

But the nation might not have to wait too long because “we’ll have a lot of information about a couple of really key states (on election night),” particularly Florida and Arizona, where mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day, Hanmer said.

“That might allow us to project forward what’s going to happen in a definitive way,” he said.

“I think really the only state that (Hilary) Clinton won (in 2016) that (Donald) Trump has a shot at is Nevada and it’s a relatively small number of electoral votes, so I don’t think Trump can win without Florida,” Hanmer he said.

While a Biden win in Florida would suggest that he’s going to win in both popular and electoral votes, turning Arizona blue would not make results as clear, according to Hanmer. If Biden gets Arizona, it can foreshadow a national victory by a huge margin or a close race determined by few electoral votes for either candidate, he said.

However, FiveThirtyEight’s presidential forecast predicts that if Biden wins Florida or Arizona, he has a 99% and 98% chance, respectively, for an Electoral College win.

Hanmer, who also is a government and politics professor at Maryland and an expert for MIT’s Election Data & Science Lab, expects that “we should know a good bit” about Georgia, which has an Election Day deadline for mail-in ballots, and North Carolina, as well.

While North Carolina accepts ballots after Election Day, the state has seen a high volume of early voting. FiveThirtyEight’s founder Nate Silver reported that “it’s expected that as much as 80% of the vote there can be announced shortly after polls close.”

If those go to Biden, Hanmer predicts that the country won’t “have to worry as much about what the count is going to be in some of the states that are processing late because I think that will largely solidify things in terms of us having a clear winner.”

If Biden wins Georgia, his chances for an electoral win is 99%, while grabbing North Carolina, pushes the probability over 99%, according to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential forecast.

In the case that Georgia and North Carolina do not go to Biden, Hanmer said “we might just have to wait until all the counting is done.” Then the results can “really hinge” on Pennsylvania, where “we’re just not going to have solid information on what the result is…for a while because they can’t count or process their ballots until very late,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly called for final results to be called on election night, in part due to his distrust in mail-in voting – even though he did it himself this year.

“Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd,” he tweeted Monday night.

That kind of rhetoric is inappropriate, warned the National Council on Election Integrity, a bipartisan group of former elected officials.

“Our Constitution and our state election laws require us to count every vote, including legally cast absentee votes,” the council said in a statement Wednesday. “Because of an unprecedented number of absentee ballots this year, counting every vote is not likely to be concluded on election night. In some states, thorough vote counting can last weeks, even in the best of times.”

Almost half of returned mail ballots in 19 states that report party registration data, including Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, were from registered Democrats, according to the Elections Project. On the other hand, 60% of Trump supporters told the Pew Research Center in late summer that they would rather vote in person on Election Day.

On election night, this could mean that in states that report mail-in ballots first, initial results may favor Biden. In places that report in-person, day-of votes first, such as most parts of Virginia, Trump may seem to have the lead.

While this pattern in which ballots received post-election favor Democrats is well-established, Walter Shapiro, in an analysis for the Brennan Center for Justice, warns that the pandemic may disrupt this trend “since different demographic groups may be voting by mail.”

In key states, the Republican Party wants to prevent this “blue shift” while Democrats are relying on it. However, research reported by MIT News shows that historically, even “some of the biggest post-Election Day shifts” — the largest being 6.9% in 1968 towards George Wallace in Georgia — have not tipped the outcome of the election.

Yet both parties have fought over mail-in ballot deadlines in the Supreme Court, and such legal back-and-forth, which may continue after Election Day, could further delay results in critical states.

Last week, the Supreme Court denied the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s request to reject ballots if received after Election Day. In a 4-4 decision, the court ruled that the battleground state can accept ballots if received within three days after Election Day. After the party asked the court to reconsider the decision, the justices let their earlier ruling stand.

Also on Wednesday, the Supreme Court backed a lower-court ruling and similarly allowed North Carolina to accept mail-in ballots up to nine days after Election Day, extending the deadline to Nov. 12.

However, an attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to also extend the mail-in ballot deadline by three days to Nov. 6 was first accepted by a federal district court, but then blocked by an appeals court. The Supreme Court voted 5 to 3 on Monday to uphold the appeals court.

Another blow to Democrats came on Thursday when a federal appeals court struck down Minnesota’s plan to accept mail-in ballots up to seven days after election. The key state will now only be able to accept ballots received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

While states can continue contesting mail-in ballot deadlines and bring them to the Supreme Court — which Hanmer told CNS wouldn’t be surprising — “the court sent a pretty strong signal that changing things now, given how deep we are into the process, is unlikely,” he said.

He predicts that legal challenges after the election are “more likely,” and so are anger, disbelief and protests from supporters on both sides.

“It seems very odd to say that about a presidential election in the United States, but there’s a lot of signals that suggests that large portions are not going to accept well the outcome either way,” Hanmer said.

“What people do about that, I think, is a big unknown,” he said. “But it’s something we have to prepare for.”

The National Council on Election Integrity counseled patience and trust: “Every ballot cast in accordance with applicable laws must be counted — that’s the American way. All Americans, including the presidential candidates themselves, have a patriotic duty to be patient as election officials count the votes. Both candidates have a responsibility to remind the country that November 3 is the last day for votes to be cast — not the last day for votes to be counted.”

By Kaanita Iyer

More Than Half of Md.’s Voters Have Already Cast Ballots

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Just over 2 million ballots had been cast in Maryland by Sunday morning, according to data from the State Board of Elections, meaning roughly half of the state’s 4.1 million electorate has voted so far.

A total of 780,635 Marylanders had voted early after polls closed on Saturday night, according to state data. Combined with the 1,234,806 mail-in ballots returned to local boards of elections so far, 2.015 million ballots have been cast in the state so far.

And by 4 p.m. Sunday, state election officials reported that an additional 55,839 early votes had come in. That would mean that more than half of Maryland’s 4.1 million eligible active voters have cast their ballots so far, without even including provisional ballots.

In 2016, there were 876,843 early votes cast in the state. With more than 830,000 early votes cast by 4 p.m. on Sunday, and with an entire day of early voting left until Election Day, it’s possible that 2020’s early voting count will eclipse early voting in the 2016 presidential election.

Although Marylanders have turned out in record-breaking numbers to vote early, Saturday saw a significant drop in the amount of ballots cast at early voting centers. Not including provisional ballots, 70,707 Marylanders turned out to vote early on Saturday. By comparison, more than 152,000 turned out on the first day of early voting – not including provisional ballots.

With provisional ballots included, more than 161,000 turned out to the polls on the first day of early voting. That broke a single-day early voting turnout record in the state, according to election officials.

Montgomery County Election Officials put out calls for more voters on social media Sunday, reporting that there were “zero lines and zero wait” at the Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville.

Today is the final day of early voting in Maryland. The state’s 81 early voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There will be more than 300 in-person voting centers open throughout Maryland on Tuesday, Election Day. The centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can report to any voting center in the county where they live.

By Bennett Leckrone

Md. State Board of Elections Offers Advice for Election Day Voting, Reminds Voters of Ballot-Counting Process

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The Maryland State Board of Elections has issued a series of recommendations designed to assist voters who will cast their ballots in person on Election Day. The state elections board also reiterated the ballot-counting schedule to reassure voters that all properly submitted ballots will be counted in the election’s official results.

The board advises all voters who plan to vote in person on Election Day to:

• Double check vote center locations in their jurisdiction as traditional polling locations will not be open due to COVID.

• Check the local weather forecast in their area prior to heading to a vote center and to dress accordingly. If there is a chance of rain in the forecast, voters should bring an umbrella.

• While the best time to vote is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the State Board encourages voters to be prepared for lines and advises voters to bring items like a folding chair, a snack and a bottle of water.

• Plan ahead to ensure that you are in line by 8 p.m. on Election Day to cast your ballot. Voter centers will remain open to allow all voters who are in line by 8 p.m. to cast their ballot.

The board asks voters who plan to vote in person to wear a mask. Voters who arrive at vote centers without masks will be offered one; voters who have a medical condition or disability that prevents them from wearing a mask will be requested to vote a provisional ballot outside of the voting room to protect other voters and election judges. The number of voters permitted inside a vote center at any one time may be limited in order to maintain social distancing.

Election Day vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any eligible voter who is in line by 8 p.m. will be permitted to vote.

“It is imperative that every eligible Marylander have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” said Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Linda Lamone. “Election officials across the state are prepared to keep vote centers open as long as it takes for voters who were in line by 8 p.m. to cast their ballots.”

It is important for voters to recognize that all properly cast ballots will be counted in the election’s official results. Due to the variety of ways ballots are being submitted this year, some voters’ ballots will not show on the state’s online ballot tracker as counted until after Election Day. For example, properly completed mail-in ballots postmarked by November 3 will be accepted until November 13. Properly completed ballots placed in authorized ballot drop boxes by 8 p.m. on November 3 will also be accepted; however, based on when ballots are submitted and the overall volume of ballots received, some ballots will not show on the online tracker as having been counted until after Election Day.

“Some voters will understandably be concerned that a ballot they submitted prior to Election Day is not showing as counted on the ballot tracker by November 3,” Lamone said. “Marylanders should be assured that, if a ballot was properly completed and submitted by the deadline, it will be counted in the election’s official results. While media outlets may ‘call’ the election on election night, that determination is not based on an official count of ballots received. Due to the nature of this election, counting will continue for some time after Election Day.”

While canvassing of ballots — which includes the opening and counting of ballots — could begin on October 1, results of ongoing canvassing will be embargoed until vote centers close on Election Day. After vote centers close on Election Day, results from early voting (October 26 to November 2) and results from mail-in ballots counted up to Election Day will be released. In subsequent hours on Election Night, results from in-person Election Day voting will be released.

After Election Day, updated results will be released each day that ballots are counted. Not all counties may count ballots every day, but updates will be provided every day that ballots are counted. Counting of provisional ballots will start on the second Thursday after the election. These results will be announced when they are counted.

For voters who missed the advance voter registration deadline, same-day registration is available at Election Day vote centers. To prove their place of residence, Marylanders registering in person on Election Day will need to bring their Motor Vehicle Administration-issued driver’s license, identification card or change of address card, or a paycheck, bank statement, utility bill or other government document that includes the voter’s name and new address.

Elections Officials’ Advice: Bring Mail-in Ballots to Drop Boxes

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With reports of slow mail delivery across the country, Maryland election officials are urging voters to return their mail-in ballots at drop-boxes throughout the state instead of using the Postal Service.

Maryland State Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone said in a statement that she doesn’t think voters who already cast their ballots by mail should worry, but said using a drop box will ensure ballots are counted on time. Mail-in ballots need to be postmarked by Nov. 3, and will need to get to election officials by Nov. 13 to be counted.

“While we don’t anticipate any issue with ballots already cast by mail, we are closely monitoring reports from the United States Postal Service that delivery times continue to be considerably longer than normal,” Lamone said. “In light of this, as we approach Election Day, we encourage voters to drop off their ballot at an authorized drop box. This will allow them to be confident their vote will be received and counted in a timely fashion.”

A total of 284 ballot drop-off boxes are scattered throughout the state for the upcoming election, including outside of every early voting center. Voters have until 8 p.m. on Election Day to use the drop-off boxes.

On Monday, the first day of early voting in Maryland, voters waiting in line at jurisdictions across the state told Maryland Matters that fears over Postal Service delays led them to cast their ballots in person.

The warning from state election officials came on the same day that Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, slammed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over mail delays.

In a release, the pair blamed DeJoy for the slow mail delivery. DeJoy previously came under fire for a slew of operational changes at the Postal Service that led to mail delays over the summer, including slashed overtime and the removal of mail sorting machines from facilities across the country.

DeJoy, a wealthy donor to President Trump, said he’d postpone any “longstanding operational initiatives” until after the election. Maloney and Connolly, however, say DeJoy hasn’t done enough to prepare the Postal Service for the election.

“Despite his assurances, the Postmaster General has failed to fix the problems he created and cannot be relied on for the on-time delivery of Election Mail,” Maloney said. “At this point, Americans should either vote in person or drop their ballot in an official drop box to avoid their ballots not being delivered on time.”

More than 1.6 million Marylanders requested mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election, according to data from the State Board of Elections. As of Wednesday, more than 1.07 million of those ballots have been returned to local boards of elections.

Marylanders who requested a mail-in ballot can still cast an in-person provisional ballot if they choose. If local boards of elections receive a mail-in ballot and a provisional ballot from the same voter, however, only the mail-in ballot will be counted.

On Wednesday alone, 159,246 Marylanders had cast in-person early voting ballots or provisional ballots. On Monday, the state saw a single-day early voting turnout record shattered as more than 161,000 voters flocked to the polls. Tuesday saw more than 153,000 voters casting early or provisional ballots.

By Bennett Leckrone

Maryland Breaks State Record for Single-Day Early Voting Turnout

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More than 161,000 Marylanders cast their ballots during the first day of early voting, according to the State Board of Elections, setting what is believed to be a single-day record for early voting in the state.

The total surpassed the previous unofficial single-day early voting record of 143,494 set on the final day of early voting in the 2016 general election.

“We’re extremely pleased that Marylanders are turning out in record numbers to exercise their right to vote,” said Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Linda Lamone. “Today’s record-setting total is in addition to the more than 1.6 million voters who requested a mail-in ballot and the roughly 830,000 who have already submitted them. We are equally pleased that nearly 1,000 people took advantage of same-day registration today in order to cast their ballots.”

By comparison, the 2016 election saw 123,623 voters on the first day of early voting, according to data from the State Board of Elections.

After Day 1 of Early Voting, More Than 1.1 Million Marylanders Have Cast Ballots

With Monday’s 161,000-plus votes combined with the 947,941 mail-in ballots returned so far, more than 1.1 million Marylanders already have voted in the presidential general election.

Voters waited for hours in lines at early voting centers across the state, with many lining up well before the state’s 81 early voting centers opened at 7 a.m. Monday morning. Some told Maryland Matters that worries over Postal Service delays and national rhetoric about mail-in ballots led them to vote in person.

The 2016 General Election saw a total turnout of just over 2.8 million voters. That figure includes Election Day, early voting, mail-in and provisional ballots. Advocates expect longer lines and even more voters at early voting centers going forward.

“We should expect even longer lines as we get closer to Election Day,” Common Cause Maryland Executive Director Joanne Antoine said on Monday.

Early voting will continue until Nov. 2. Voters can head to any early voting center in their jurisdiction. Those centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, and will remain open as regular in-person voting centers on Election Day.

During the eight days of early voting, eligible voters may cast their ballots at any authorized early voting center in their jurisdiction of residence. A complete list of early voting centers is available here. Voters may also search here for early voting centers, Election Day voting centers and ballot drop box locations in their area simply by including their zip code.

For voters who missed the advance voter registration deadline, same-day registration will be available at early voting and Election Day vote centers. To prove their place of residence, Marylanders registering in person during early voting or on Election Day will need to bring their Motor Vehicle Administration-issued driver’s license, identification card or change of address card, or a paycheck, bank statement, utility bill or other government document that includes the voter’s name and new address.

“We encourage Marylanders who would like to vote in person to continue to take advantage of early voting,” Lamone said. “While many Marylanders have, and continue to, cast their votes using mail-in ballots, voting early is one way to reduce lines and limit wait times at vote centers. The best time to vote in person is on a weekday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.”

Voters who have already requested a ballot should vote the ballot they receive in the mail. Voters simply complete the ballot, sign the oath on the postage-paid return envelope that accompanies the ballot, seal the envelope and submit it by mail or at an approved ballot drop box location.

Voters may not “trade in” their mail-in ballot during early voting or on Election Day, nor can they scan their mail-in ballot at an in-person vote center. If a voter has already requested or received a mail-in ballot and wants to vote early, the voter will have to cast a provisional ballot. This ballot will be held until election officials confirm the voter did not also return a mail-in ballot. This process ensures only one ballot per voter is counted.

Voters may drop off a mail-in ballot at an early voting center, but the ballot must be properly sealed in the return envelope that accompanied the mail-in ballot. Voters must sign the oath on the return envelope in order for the ballot to be counted.

By Bennett Leckrone

Maryland Needs 13,000+ Election Judges

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Local election officials are scrambling to fill more than 13,000 election judge jobs that remain vacant after Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) ordered a more traditional election for Nov. 3 despite health concerns in the COVID-19 pandemic.

About a third of election judge positions are unfilled across the state. Maryland Association of Election Officials President David Garreis said the number of vacancies before an election is unprecedented.

“In my 15 years of doing elections, I can’t remember us ever having a 35 percent vacancy rate,” said Garreis, who is also the deputy director of the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections.

Garreis added that older, more experienced election judges seem to be dropping out in greater numbers. He said many initially agreed to work the election, but dropped out after consulting with their families and friends.

For election day, 27,239 election judges are needed, and 9,654 — or 35% — of the jobs are vacant.

Early voting centers will need 12,831 election judges to run as normal, but 4,083  — or 31% — of the positions are vacant as of the state’s most recent update on July 30.

The risks of conducting an election in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic have led election judges in Maryland and across the country to call it quits. And owners of some private properties used as polling centers have declined to let their properties be used for the November 3 election.

One veteran Maryland poll worker called Hogan’s plan for an in-person election an “unnecessary suicide mission” and said she wouldn’t be working as an election judge in November.

Hogan wants every voting center and early voting location open for the November election, but local election boards have said that a lack of poll workers could mean they will have to consolidate polling centers.

Fewer election judges likely will mean fewer polling locations, David Garreis, president of the Maryland Association of Election Officials, warned members of the State Board of Elections.

“It’s becoming impossible to fill all of these vacancies,” Garreis told the State Board of Elections. “We’re not going to be able to make up for this election judge shortfall.”

Every registered voter will receive an application for a mail-in ballot under Hogan’s plan, instead of automatically receiving a mail-in ballot as they did in the state’s June 2 primary. Turnout was high for the primary, but many voters received late or incorrect ballots, and those who voted in person found long lines at the limited number of voting centers.

Health experts, voting rights advocates, Democratic lawmakers and local election officials have asked Hogan to reverse course and conduct the election largely by mail. They say his decision isn’t just a herculean lift for local boards of elections, but also limits choices for voters in the midst of a pandemic.

The governor has defended his plan for a more traditional election, arguing that he was following state law when he ordered voting centers open. In a WBAL interview last week, Hogan said he took an extra step by sending out ballot applications to every voter, and blasted criticism as “complete nonsense”.

“It’s not my plan for the election, it’s what state law requires,” Hogan said.

Common Cause Maryland Executive Director Joanne Antoine called Hogan’s defense “disingenuous” in a statement Friday and urged the governor to adopt a mostly mail-in election format.  She noted that mailing voters ballot applications is expected to add about $5.6 million to election costs.

“There is still time for Governor Hogan to change his mind and direct the SBE to use the same election procedures as were used on April 28 and June 2,” Antoine said. “It would save at least $5.6 million and a lot of voter confusion.”

Meanwhile, the Hogan administration is encouraging state workers to fill the slew of poll worker vacancies.

In a letter to state employees last week, Maryland Department of Budget and Management Secretary David R. Brinkley offered holiday pay and 16 hours of administrative leave for state employees who volunteer as election judges, compared with the eight hours he has offered in the past.

Registered voters in Maryland who are physically and mentally able to work at least a 15-hour day and can speak, read and write English can sign up to be election judges.

People as young as 16 years old can register to vote and can sign up to be election judges, with a parent or guardian’s permission.  But they cannot vote unless they will be 18 years old by the general election.

By Bennett Leckrone