The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on election policy in the 2024 General Assembly.
An essential function of Maryland’s county governments is to fund and oversee elections — overseeing polling places and coordinating poll workers every two years. MACo advocates for necessary and timely policy changes that balance the shared goals of providing fair, open, and transparent elections. In addition, MACo guards against state policies that result in costly or burdensome implementation for local election officials.
Maryland’s 446th legislative session convened amidst a substantial concern over the State’s fiscal situation, with weakened revenues and cost increases for many services at every level of government. Despite the budgetary limitations, many policy issues received a full debate, with many resolutions arising from the 90-day annual process. MACo’s legislative committee guided the association’s positions on hundreds of bills, yielding many productive compromises and gains spanning counties’ uniquely broad portfolio.
Follow these links for more coverage on our Conduit Street blog and Legislative Database.
Administration
MACo supported HB 333- Election Law – Election Disinformation and Improper Influence Related to Voting to provide necessary and timely policy changes to protect election integrity and public servants charged with ensuring fair, open, and transparent elections.
This bill requires the State Board of Elections (SBE) to (1) maintain a portal on its website that the public may use to report election disinformation (incorrect or misleading information regarding the time, place, or manner of an election, election results, or voting rights in the State) and (2) conduct a periodic review of material submitted by the public through the portal, and to the extent necessary, issue corrective information or refer submissions to the State Prosecutor.
The bill also defines “influence” under existing provisions that prohibit willfully and knowingly influencing or attempting to influence, through specified means, a voter’s voting decision or decision whether to vote. “Influence” means to use pressure, deception, trickery, or direct or indirect authority to induce action or to change the decision or act of another, regardless of the medium used. This bill passed the Maryland General Assembly.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported SB 129, Election Law—Election Costs and Administration, which sought timely and necessary updates to election laws to promote fairness, transparency, and accountability.
The bill required the State Board of Elections (SBE) to take necessary and appropriate steps to provide transparency and accountability for contracts and procurement decisions to afford ample input from local governments and Maryland voters.
In addition, the bill specified that an invoice for payment sent to a local board by SBE shall itemize the goods and services and the cost of each item. The bill properly required the State to pay 100% of the costs of acquiring and operating the election management system, ballot drop boxes, a marketing campaign to recruit election judges, and a statewide get-out-the-vote campaign, delivering stability and predictability for the State and local budgets.
Given the budgetary challenges in the 2024 session, the bill’s fiscal note was untenable. As such, it did not pass the Maryland General Assembly.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
Public Campaign Financing
MACo supported HB 769- Local Public Campaign Financing – Expansion to Additional Offices. This bill would have expanded the offices for which a county may establish public campaign financing.
Currently, counties may authorize public campaign financing for elected offices in the executive and legislative branches of county government. This bill sought to enable counties that have implemented a system of public campaign financing for at least one election cycle to expand the offering to candidates seeking to serve as a state’s attorney, sheriff, register of wills, judge of the circuit court, clerk of the circuit court, judge of the orphans’ court, or an elected member of the county board of education.
This legislation properly left the decision to establish public campaign financing in the hands of the local governments, who are best situated to determine whether such a policy is in their best interest. Unfortunately, this bill did not advance from the House Ways and Means Committee and failed to pass the Maryland General Assembly.