A suit filed by Democratic Senators Delores Kelley and Jim Brochin says the plan violates the Maryland Constitution and protects the political voice of Baltimore City at the expense of Baltimore County.
UPDATED (1:13 p.m.)—Two Baltimore County state senators have filed suit in the state Court of Appeals seeking to overturn Maryland's recently enacted legislative redistricting plan. Democratic Senators Jim Brochin and Delores Kelley, in a suit filed Tuesday, claim the new districts violate the Maryland Constitution and a 2002 Court of Appeals ruling that governs redistricting. A copy of the lawsuit is attached to this story. The suit is one of four seeking to overturn Gov. Martin O'Malley's redistricting plan. At the heart of the 17-page complaint are allegations that the commission that redrew the state's 47 legislative districts unfairly protected the city's political power in Annapolis, while diluting the county's representation. "For …
The former Rockville mayor could be part of a crowded field for comptroller.
Douglas M. Duncan is mulling a comeback. The former Rockville mayor, former Montgomery County Executive and one-time gubernatorial candidate told NewsChannel 8’s Bruce DePuyt he is considering a bid for state Comptroller or for a return as county executive. Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot is expected to run for governor in 2014, a prospect discussed in this piece in The Washington Times in September. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said last year that he would not seek re-election to the post that Duncan held for three terms. Maryland Juice reported rumors in January that Duncan was considering a run for comptroller. The blog noted that Duncan would be part of an increasingly crowded field. Duncan ran against Martin O'Malley for the …
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Volunteers at polling places on Tuesday solicited signatures on a pledge to support the recently passed law.
In front of Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Sharon Vignati and Denise Woodard, armed with clipboards and pens, asked voters Tuesday evening to support an issue that wasn’t on the primary election ballot. In February, the Maryland General Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Vignati and Woodard want to make sure that stays in place. Opponents are attempting to collect 55,736 valid signatures from Maryland voters by June 30 to block the new law from taking effect on Jan. 1, The Washington Post has reported. If they get the necessary signatures, voters would be asked on the November ballot whether to repeal the law. “We’re asking people to sign a pledge that if it goes to the ballot, that they’ll vote not to let (the repeal…
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2:27 pm on Saturday, April 7, 2012
Glad to hear it. I apologize for thinking otherwise.. more ›
Participation in Tuesday's election was particularly low—even for a primary.
Did you vote on Tuesday? If not, why not? It was slow going at polls in the early hours at many polling locations. Patch reported low turnout at precincts in Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Kensington, North Potomac, Potomac and Rockville. Voter turnout picked up at some polling places in the evening hours, but remained less than usual. Primary election turnout is traditionally much lower than that of general elections. But elections officials and campaigns alike pinned the especially low turnout in Montgomery County in Tuesday’s primary—14.79 percent of all registered voters vs. 20 percent for typical primary elections—on timing. Maryland’s 2008 presidential primary was held in February. Previous primaries were held in March. The …
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In the Montgomery County Board of Education primary, Morris Panner took the No. 2 spot for the At-Large ballot; Fred Evans and Rebecca Smondrowski took the top spots for District 2.
Although the Republican presidential primary bolstered Maryland into national headlines Tuesday, locally Montgomery County voters also narrowed the field for the Board of Education’s general election in November. The unofficial results show that Phil Kauffman and Morris Panner beat out the two other candidates on the ballot to advance to the general election for the at-large seat. Kauffman received 60.3 percent of the vote, and Panner received 17 percent of the vote. The next runner-up, Lou August, received 11.9 percent of the vote. "I am really honored to have received the support I did," Panner, a resident of the Town of Somerset in Chevy Chase, told Chevy Chase Patch. "It is such an important time in our [c]ounty's history and a …
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9:41 am on Wednesday, April 4, 2012
FYI, along with new boundaries for the Congressional and State districts, the board of education district boundaries have changed as well. The Winston Churchill cluster is now in district 3 and served by Patricia O'Neill. more ›
The 2011 decision that moved Maryland's primary election day to April also caused it to coincide with Montgomery County Public Schools' spring break and may have contributed to a low reported voter turnout in Montgomery County, MD.
Updated, 11:30 a.m.: Spring break may be partially to blame for low voter turnout throughout Montgomery County during Tuesday’s primary elections. While Montgomery County traditionally sees turnout around 20 percent during primary elections, according to Board of Elections member Nahid Khozeimeh, Tuesday's voter turnout totaled much lower at 14.79 percent. Many polling officials and campaign representatives worried that spring break played a large part in the low turnout, with longtime election judges, campaigners and voters spending the week before Easter and Passover on vacation with families. “We’re probably looking at single digit returns,” Majorie Roher, public information officer for the county's Board of Elections, guessed on …
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10:16 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
Does anyone think an Open Primary would be better and improve voter turn out? more ›
Early unofficial results are in for Maryland's primary.
Update, 10:31 p.m.: Rep. Chris Van Hollen continues to hold the lead in the Democratic congressional primary with almost 90 percent of the votes. While, Democratic challenger George English has about ten percent of the votes. On the Republican side, Ken Timmerman continues to lead with almost 45 percent of the votes, followed by Dave Wallace with slightly more than 36 percent of the votes. In the Maryland senate race, incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin still holds a commanding lead of the Democratic primary with 73 percent of the votes, with the closest challenger, Maryland State Sen. Anthony Muse pulling in almost 16 percent so far. Original Story: The night isn't over, but with early, unofficial results reported incumbent Rep. Chris Van Hollen …
8:34 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012
I REALLY can't believe how dumb people are. Van Hollen and Cardin are part of the PROBLEM, they are not even close to being any sort of solution. The dems have not come up with a budget in 3 yrs, but then they say the GOP is anti american, anti woman, anti employment, anti clean air, and clean water, etc etc. I am so glad I left the dumbocrap party after 30 yrs. People like cardin and van hollen… more ›
Most polling places were empty Tuesday morning.
Update 5 p.m.: Not much has changed since the morning. Voter turnout is still low all around precincts in Takoma Park. Only 167 voters passed through the doors of Takoma Park Middle School in precinct 13-21, according to Democratic Precinct Chair Buddy Daniels. "We didn't expect a big vote for this primary," Daniels said. And though voter turnout usually picks up between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Daniels doesn't have much hope for an uptick. "If we got to 250 today it would be amazing," he said. To compare, he hopes to see around 700 voters come out for the general election in November. Original Story: Democracy was alive and well Tuesday morning in Takoma Park. Well, sort of. You would not know it was a primary election day if you …
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4:58 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Maybe more people would turn out to vote if they had a better choice of candidates. I don't have children in the public schools (oldest daughter just graduated), but know we need people in office who care about more than just getting elected. I voted for Jean Ellinport because she seemed like someone new who will look at things from a different perspective, but some of the others have been around… more ›
Don't miss these important deadlines.
Our last chance feature is normally a list of deadlines coming up that you don't want to miss. But today we just have one big deadline you need to know about. It's primary election day all over Maryland and the polls close promptly at 8 p.m. tonight. Find out where you should vote over at the Maryland Board of Elections site. Check out our District 8 candidate list and, whether you're a Republican or Democrat, cast your vote today. Check back to Takoma Park Patch for news and results from the District 8 Congressional races and the Republican Presidential Primary.
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Check out the candidates for tomorrow's primary election in Maryland.
Primary election day is Tuesday and both Democrats and Republicans are vying for Rep. Chris Van Hollen's District 8 Congressional seat. Incumbent Van Hollen is still the most visible Democrat but he does have a challenger in the primary. There are also four Republicans in race for the chance to face the Democratic winner in November. Here are the candidates: Democrats: Republicans:
8:39 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Beth- If you think teachers union approved candidates are the way to go, you can also explain to me how the education budget is twice what it was 10 years ago, but the outcomes are the same or worse..... I voted for any candidate who stated they wanted to end the maintenance of effort fraud more ›
abbistani
12:15 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
Well, they would have to amend the state constitution to do it. How likely do you think that would be? more ›