Ballot Questions

Anne Arundel voters will be deciding 13 local ballot questions today. 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.

Today, The Sun continues its endorsements for the Nov. 7 general election with statewide and local ballot questions. Statewide One week from today, Maryland voters must decide a number of ballot questions, including four statewide issues. The Sun supports all four: Question 1: A constitutional amendment that would prohibit the Board of Public Works from selling excess state-owned property without specific approval from the General Assembly. The proposal arose from the Ehrlich administration's attempt to sell protected, environmentally sensitive land in St. Mary's County to a politically connected developer two years ago. Some Republicans initially opposed the measure, but Mr. Ehrlich's decision to support it last year has generally squelched such opposition.

Baltimore County voters will have so many ballot questions to contend with on Election Day, that to expect them to complete their chore in the allotted seven minutes is "unrealistic," said county Elections Board Administrator Doris Suter.In addition to deciding on candidates for state and county offices and three state constitutional amendments, county voters will have 20 questions to read and decide on Nov. 6.There are 10 bond issues, worth $200 million in borrowing authorization. There are also 10 amendments on the county charter, including the controversial referendum question that proposes a 2 percent cap on property tax revenue increases.

The opportunity to vote in a highly charged presidential election and on several closely contested ballot questions drew Marylanders back to the polls Wednesday, keeping the state's early voting turnout on a record pace. After a two-day break for Hurricane Sandy, polling places reopened to crowds that in some locations approached weekend levels, with waits of up to an hour and a half. "I want to give the president another vote," Beatrice Greene said as she stood in a 45-minute line at the Public Safety Training Facility on Northern Parkway in Northwest Baltimore.

FACING BALTIMORE COUNTY voters on Nov. 5 will be eight ballot questions. If approved, they would allow the county to borrow millions of dollars for schools, roads, parks, waterway cleanup and farmland preservation.The projects slated to be paid for with these loans meet fundamental public needs. They are not frivolities. There are also four modest amendments to the county charter, Questions A through D, including one allowing an independent auditor to perform the annual government audit.Questions E and F are the most significant bond issues.

A ballot question to convene a convention to revise the state's constitution was supported by 55 percent of those who voted on the referendum, but the measure appears to have failed because too many voters abstained. For a convention to be called, the number of people voting "yes" would need to be more than 50 percent of the total number of Marylanders who voted overall. Although 55 percent, or about 845,021 voters, were in favor of calling a convention, outnumbering the 703,426 who opposed, 191,548 voters did not vote on the question, essentially voting down the measure, according to preliminary figures from the Maryland State Board of Elections on Thursday.

THE CHARTER REVIEW Commission in Howard County fell short of its goal to remove politics from the process of redrawing councilmanic boundary lines. Thus, residents have no compelling reason Tuesday to vote for the creation of a special seven-member commission to draw the lines each decade.The commission would be just as political as the County Council, which now draws the lines. The party with a council majority would appoint four members to the panel; the minority party would name three.

Casting a ballot for the next president may be what draws a record number of Marylanders to the polls tomorrow, but Baltimore voters will also decide on borrowing $125 million for projects that officials call an investment in the city's future. Expected long lines at polling stations could be exacerbated as city voters review page after page of ballot questions - 15 in all for loan authorizations. The largest is $43 million for school construction. Other projects include the Maryland Zoo, the Walters Art Museum, the Lyric Opera House, an expansion of Patterson Park and renovation projects at the downtown courthouses and several firehouses.

With just two days left until polls open on Election Day, all sides of Maryland's fiercely contested ballot questions are turning to their final task: getting their supporters into the voting booth. To accomplish that goal, the campaigns have recruited churches, labor unions and other advocacy groups to help find voters, and many will rely on get-out-the-vote machines they've built themselves from the ground up. "We will keep calling you until you have voted," promised Adam Limehouse, field director for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, which is supporting the state's same-sex marriage law. "It is the way to get people out, and it really does work.

The developer of National Harbor may have given supporters of same-sex marriage and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants an incentive to vote against expanded gambling by financing a Republican group's sample ballot opposing their causes. State election records show that Peterson Cos., which wants to win approval of Question 7 to clear the way to locate a casino at National Harbor, gave $271,515 to a group called Republican Leaders Referendum Guide. The Maryland Juice web site reported that the money was used to produce a sample ballot opposing three ballot questions but supporting gambling expansion.