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Question 1 - Early Voting
Click here to view language of the Ballot question.
QUESTION
1 is a
Constitutional Amendment to allow early voting. As Senator Allan Kittleman points out, since the General
Assembly will not pass a requirement that a voter present a valid identification
card at the polls, allowing early voting is an invitation for widespread fraud.
Recommendation on Question 1: VOTE
NO
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Early voting is
also a question on November ballot
By
Len
Lazarick Examiner Staff
Writer 9/17/08
Lost in the hubbub
over the slots referendum — Question 2 on the November ballot — is the debate on
Question 1 — the other state constitutional amendment on the ballot that will
permit early voting throughout the state.
Republican
senators, who are divided on slots, tried to revive the debate on early voting
this week by taking a strong position against an idea they’ve long
opposed.
New Senate
Republican Leader Allan Kittleman said early voting sounds like a good idea. But Kittleman thought voters would
not approve it “if you put on the ballot that voting anywhere in the state for
two weeks before the election without identification would be
allowed.”
Instead, ballot
Question 2 says that the constitutional amendment “authorizes the General
Assembly to enact legislation to allow qualified voters to vote at polling
places inside or outside of their election districts or wards and to vote up to
two weeks before an election.”
It also allows the
legislature to “allow absentee voting by qualified voters who choose to vote by
absentee ballot.”
The General
Assembly passed such a law in 2006, even overriding Republican Gov. Robert
Ehrlich’s veto of the bill. But the Court of Appeals rejected the plan,
affirming a Circuit Court’s ruling that the Maryland Constitution limited
elections to a single day, the first Tuesday in November, except in the case of
absentee ballots.
Kittleman’s
principal objection is a “lack of protection for fraud,” since no identification
is required. Kittleman is particularly concerned that Maryland does not require
proof of legal residence to get a driver’s license and those getting a license
are also given voter registration forms.
“I think
Republicans would like to create policy out of a problem that doesn’t exist,”
said David Paulson, spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party. “Republicans
have got a message that has no facts behind [it],” though Kittleman said they do
have evidence of non-citizens voting.
“The Maryland
Democratic Party is foursquare in favor of this constitutional amendment and
early voting,” Paulson said. It wants to make voting “as easy and accessible to
as many qualified voters as possible.”
He said the party
is planning a number of “messaging and visibility events” to tell voters that
early voting is important and they need to vote yes on ballot Question No.
1.
llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Voter Registration Deadline
Tuesday, October 14th
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Absentee Voting Deadline
Tuesday, October 28th
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Election Day
Tuesday, November 4th
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