Ballot Questions

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.

Next week's election might be short on candidates and contests - besides the county school board, no county or state elected officials are up for election this year - but it doesn't lack for drama and hotly debated issues. On Tuesday, Nov. 6, Howard County voters will get to vote on some remarkably tight contests. Locally, voters will decide the aforementioned school board race, in which six candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for three open slots on a board that will have to work with a new superintendent to maintain the school system's quality reputation.

Western Maryland Democrats may get a preview of the 2014 gubernatorial race Saturday as the likely contenders for the party's nomination converge on the Rocky Gap resort in Allegany County. While much of the official agenda is focused on this November's election, all of the most-mentioned hopefuls to succeed Gov. Martin O'Malley will have speaking roles  at the Western Maryland Democratic Summit. Lt. Gov.  Anthony Brown, Attorney General Doug Gansler, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and Montgomery County Del. Heather Mizeur -- all of whom have signaled an interest in a State House run -- will each get  a chance to impress Democrats from one of the most heavily Republican parts of the state.

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.

Nowhere in Maryland do voters face more intriguing choices than the Washington suburbs, where a just-convicted councilman is running for re-election, a rejected state's attorney seeks a comeback, a defeated county executive is forging a write-in campaign and three dangerous tax-cap measures would clamp a tight lid on government.What an embarrassment Democrat Anthony J. Cicoria has become for Prince George's voters. Convicted this week of stealing $65,000 in campaign funds and lying on his income tax returns, Cicoria is odds-on favorite to win another councilmanic term.

The main group supporting same-sex marriage in Maryland has raised $3.2 million and still has $1.2 million in its war chest to defend the law in the Nov. 6 referendum, according to a disclosure filed last night with the State Board of Elections. Among the largest donors to Marylanders for Marriage Equality was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who endorsed the Maryland measure in a statement he released Friday. The mayor contributed $250,000. Meanwhile, the Maryland Marriage Alliance — leading the charge in opposition to the extension of civil marriage rights to gays and lesbians — reported that it has raised $838,000 and had a cash balance of $328,000.

Starting Saturday, Marylanders can go to the polls and cast their votes for president and other matters on this fall's ballot. But those who wish to enter the voting booth before Election Day shouldn't wait too long. Maryland's early-voting period runs only through Thursday, a six-day window that is one of the shortest in the country and that could be cut even shorter by Hurricane Sandy. After that, voters will need to wait until Nov. 6. The State Board of Elections is anticipating that as many as 20 percent of Maryland voters will join millions of their fellow Americans in the increasingly popular practice of casting their ballots in person before Election Day. Other Marylanders who like to get a jump on things have been voting by mail, using absentee ballots, since Sept.

Maryland may not be a "swing" state for the presidency, and its congressional races may all be romps, but you wouldn't know that from the way politicians and party activists are carrying on. Republicans, Democrats and their interest group allies went into overdrive yesterday in their efforts to get sympathetic voters to the polls Tuesday. Their efforts are expected to continue through the weekend amid signs that interest in the election is picking up. Turnout was the top priority for both parties as Republicans rallied in Little Italy and Democratic officials crisscrossed the state.

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.