Ballot Questions

Maryland voters will decide the outcome of seven ballot questions in November. Question 1 - All Maryland voters will decide whether the judges in Prince George's County who oversee estate and will disputes must be admitted to the Maryland Bar. Baltimore City and Montgomery and Harford counties currently require this. Supporters say the measure will professionalize the so-called “Orphan's Court” which oversees estate disputes. Opponents are concerned that the change will lead to a statewide requirement that Orphan's Court judges be attorneys, which they believe is unnecessary.

After the sound drubbing Maryland Republicans received at the ballot box this month, a faction in the state GOP is calling for the resignation of state party Chairman Alex Mooney. The effort follows a race in which the state party not only saw most of its candidates go down to lopsided defeats but one in which the ballot questions most Republicans opposed were all approved. Whether Mooney can be forced out in the middle of his four-year term is doubtful, but GOP activists on both sides agree that unhappiness with his performance is likely to lead to a contentious Republican state convention Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in Howard County.

The group that petitioned three General Assembly laws to the November ballot is planning a fundraiser and rally in Anne Arundel County Monday -- their first major event in the heated campaign. Neil Parrott, the founder of MDPetitions.com, said his goal is to "get the right information out" so Marylanders are able to pick through the crowded ballot and "vote the way they really want" on the questions. Parrott's group petitioned to referendum a law that allows illegal immigrants more access to higher education and the state's congressional map and helped put the same-sex marriage law to voters.

Gerrymandering is never going to change - unless we fix this states' problems from the ground up. The recent gerrymandering of congressional districts made me come to the realization that the only way Marylanders voices will be heard is if we force our elected officials to step out of the redistricting process. My thought is that two non-partisan firms compete for drawing the maps based on actual census data collected. The second firm comes in to audit the work of the first. They are both paid, but the incentive is a bonus to the first if it draws the map correctly.

One of the biggest winners in Maryland Tuesday night was not technically on the ballot: the Democratic leadership in Annapolis. All four of the controversial ballot questions were about measures championed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly, where Democrats hold the majority. And all four were affirmed by the voters. Those measures expand gambling, legalize same-sex marriage, allow in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants and create new congressional district boundaries.

After months of being bombarded by slick advertising, celebrity endorsements and candidate pleas, Maryland voters will go to the polls today - in large numbers, according to one estimate - to have the final word. At stake is the outcome of the highly charged presidential race, which could have an impact on the state's economy for years to come, along with ballot questions that have put Maryland at the center of broader debates over gay marriage and immigration. What voters here decide will have unusual significance for a state often overlooked in national politics, experts said.

Maryland enters uncharted political territory this fall as voters for the first time in decades face four major ballot questions. An onslaught of costly advertising is likely as competing interests from all over the country try to sway the state's electorate. Ballot questions aren't subject to fundraising limits, so the money spent on at least two of the campaigns — on laws legalizing same-sex marriage and expanding gambling in the state — will likely be in the millions. Two other questions, on access to higher education for some illegal immigrants and the fairness of the new congressional map, ignite deep passions likely to inspire old fashioned face-to-face politicking.

Anne Arundel voters will be deciding 13 local ballot questions tomorrow. Some are confusing, but voters should resist the urge to skip them. They involve important issues, from property taxes to labor disputes. Here are our recommendations:* Vote FOR Question A. It would resolve the conflict that will arise if both term limit initiatives, Questions B and C, are approved. Question A says the amendment receiving the most votes takes effect. Without it, a court would decide the outcome.* Vote AGAINST Questions B and C, which would limit County Council members to two or three four-year terms, respectively.

Several voters have complained that Republican Anne Arundel County Councilman John Grasso bullied and berated them as they waited in line to cast a ballot, according to the county elections board. In one case, a voter said Grasso yelled at him and jabbed a finger into his face while his children stood nearby. The voter said he'd cracked a joke about reaching the electioneering boundary where Grasso could no longer talk to him. "Mr. Grasso then acted in a very unprofessional and degrading manner and began to resort to childish and loud name calling as he verbally accosted me," Lorne M. Young of Glen Burnie wrote in an email to election officials obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Grasso acknowledged that he had been in confrontations while talking with voters, but he said the actions described by Young were in response to rude behavior.

There was a strong case to be made against Question 7, Maryland's referendum on expanded gambling, and we made it. Although it may make sense for Maryland to adopt table games, and eventually even to allow a sixth casino in Prince George's County, the proposal before voters was a bad deal. It gave too much away to the casino owners and offered too little benefit to taxpayers. There was a cynical, self-serving and disingenuous case to be made against Question 7, too, and Penn National Gaming made it. The massive casino corporation spent well more than $40 million on television ads, direct mail and other campaigning to sow doubts - many of them illegitimate - in voters' minds about Question 7. Penn did it not because it had Maryland's best interests at heart but because it was trying to protect its marquee property, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, W.Va.

Last week was a very good one for Maryland's governor. He helped President Barack Obama win another term, increased the number of Democrats representing his state in Congress while also getting all his party's incumbents re-elected and went 7-for-7 on ballot questions, including the history-making same-sex marriage law. So perhaps he was feeling his oats. At least that would explain why Gov. Martin O'Malley so rashly told reporters - practically before the unplugged voting machines had gone cold - that he'd like the General Assembly to consider making it more difficult for a Maryland law to be petitioned to referendum.

Anne Arundel voters passed all 15 county charter amendments on Tuesday's ballot, most by a landslide. Among the changes are new rules for removing elected officials from office and a slight shift in the balance of power between the county executive and the County Council. Compared with state ballot questions that drew record ad spending and addressed the controversial issues of gay marriage, gambling and immigration, Anne Arundel's bevy of local questions seemed to be overlooked, Council Chairman Derek Fink said.

It has become obvious that early voting has become a hit in Maryland. Over 430,000 residents - 11.7 percent of eligible voters - chose to exercise their right to participate is this very important component of the American election process ("Voting resumes at record pace," Nov. 1). Hopefully, more Marylanders will be encouraged to participate as the kinks in the system are worked out, particularly the need for more early voting centers. I also found it somewhat irksome that The Sun waited until early voting was completed to publish its presidential endorsement.

One of the biggest winners in Maryland Tuesday night was not technically on the ballot: the Democratic leadership in Annapolis. All four of the controversial ballot questions were about measures championed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly, where Democrats hold the majority. And all four were affirmed by the voters. Those measures expand gambling, legalize same-sex marriage, allow in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants and create new congressional district boundaries.

Harford County voters had many reasons for packing the county's 75 polling places of Election Day Tuesday, and not all of them had to do with electing the nation's next commander-in-chief. The interest shown by Harford's voters translated a huge turnout, which caused long lines and waits at many locations around the county. Gretchen Hopley, of Bel Air, brought her daughter, Tennyson, with her to vote at Prospect Mill Elementary School near Bel Air around lunchtime Tuesday. A regular voter, Hopley said "I want her to know she has a say in the world, in how this world is run. " "And I want her to see my vote," Hopley said.

The mood was celebratory Tuesday night at Arcos Restaurant in Fells Point, where the Dreamers - students brought to the United States illegally as children, who now want to pursue higher education here - won their battle for in-state tuition breaks at the state's public colleges and universities. "This means so much to me, my parents and my family - who are the other dreamers," Nathaly Uribe, a senior at Glen Burnie High School who was 2 when her parents brought her from Chile, said while keeping an eye on election results at the Mexican restaurant on South Broadway.