Ballot

Mark Twain supposedly quipped, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. " For Maryland Republicans, the joke is no laughing matter. Gov. Martin O'Malley and Democrats all but engineered the demise of the Maryland GOP through redistricting at the congressional level. It showed in the trouncing of Republican candidates in the election earlier this month. The contest between 10-term Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett and challenger John Delaney in the 6th Congressional District says it all: 58.6 percent for Mr. Delaney and 38.1 for Mr. Bartlett.

I suspect it is fair to say that organizer of the petition drives leading to anti-immigrant Question 4 and anti-gay Question 6, Del. Neil Parrott, was absolutely de-feathered ("A referendum on referendums?" Nov. 13). Mark Goldberg and Christopher Smith, Baltimore

Gov. Martin O'Malley went on MSNBC Friday morning to bask in the glow of his victory on same-sex marriage and to confess that he was "never more relieved" by the results of an election in which his name was not on the ballot.    

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.

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.

Baltimore voters were poised to approve four charter amendments Tuesday, including one to move city elections to the same years that the nation chooses a president. The city would hold its next election in 2016, under one of the changes leading by broad margins in early returns. The amendment would effectively give the mayor and city council — elected in 2011 — five-year terms this time, and in the future would allow local officials to run for state office without worrying about losing their city positions.

Marylanders made history Tuesday as they voted to make same-sex marriage legal - a question that had been defeated each of the 32 times it had been on the ballot in other states. "To Maryland's children - please know that you and your families matter to the people of our state," Gov. Martin O'Malley, who pushed for the law, said early Wednesday in a statement declaring victory. "Whether your parents happen to be gay or straight, Democratic, Republican or Independent, your families are equal before the eyes of the law. " The Free State joins six others and the District of Columbia, which have allowed same-sex marriage.

This was the year of the referendum in Maryland, and given how things went at the polls, we're not likely to see a repeat any time soon. The success of all the three laws that were petitioned to referendum exposes the fallacy of Maryland Republicans' notion that they could build support for themselves and check the supposed excesses of the Democratic Party by bringing controversial measures to the voters. When Maryland Republicans, led by freshman Del. Neil Parrott of Washington County, succeeded in putting the Dream Act on the ballot, state GOP Chairman Alex Mooney called it a "game changer" and a counterweight to Democrats who "think that they can do what they want.

Referendum Question 7 on the Nov. 6 ballot on expanding casino gambling in Maryland is a tough one. There are so many people whose views I despise on both sides of the debate. Thomas F. McDonough, Towson

I was struck recently by an op-ed in The Sun that proclaimed "Voting is an exercise in futility" (Oct. 17). I disagree. It can be an exercise in frustration, maybe, but not futility. I learned this in 1956, when I was seven years old. My grandmother lived with us and greatly admired President Eisenhower. During the Republican National Convention, while my sister and brother were out playing, I sat with her and watched the entire even — from gavel to gavel. While we were watching she said something that caught my attention more than anything else.