Elections Board

The top three contenders in the Democratic race for mayor of Baltimore are all chronic violators of the Maryland law requiring timely disclosure of campaign contributions, election records show.The campaign committees of City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III, City Councilman Martin O'Malley and former school board member Carl Stokes all have been cited numerous times for missing the deadlines for disclosing campaign finances.Officials of each campaign have paid hundreds of dollars in fees for late filings from previous elections over the course of the candidate's political career.

Secure in her primary election victory for Howard County register of wills, a tired, but happy Kay K. Hartleb relaxed at home last September -- until she flipped on her television.An errant county voting machine computer chip gave Larry G. Fales, her Republican rival, an extra 40,000 votes -- more votes, she knew, than were cast for both candidates combined."It was a real shocker," Hartleb remembers, chuckling. "I had won easily. I had seen it at [election] headquarters."The computer error was quickly corrected, but county elections administrator Barbara W. Feaga said the incident helped convince her it is time to start shopping for a new voting system.

Disputing allegations that she lives outside the city, City Council candidate Sylvia Williams said yesterday that she is a Baltimore resident who has a long history of activism in her community."

WASHINGTON -- After casting their ballots on whether to legalize the use of marijuana for medical treatment, district residents tuned to the local news on election night to find out the results. That's when they saw the tally: Zero "yes" votes. Zero "no" votes.Zero votes, period.How could this be, when thousands remembered voting on Initiative 59 that very morning?It turns out that Congress, which controls the inner workings of district affairs, squelched the release of the results after one of its most conservative members did not like the smell of the medical marijuana measure.

Human error delayed election returns in Baltimore and Baltimore County last night, frustrating elections officials and politicians whose careers hinged on the results.Baltimore County officials said some elections judges jammed voting machines with improperly prepared ballots.And the city's $6.5 million computer voting system, used for the first time, also suffered from human error, with only half the results being reported at Board of Elections Supervisors headquarters by 11 p.m.Baltimore elections officials had predicted having all returns in by 10 p.m., but confusion over picking up computer cartridges with votes from each precinct caused delays.

Three Annapolis residents campaigning for alderman will be allowed to run in this year's city elections despite their failure to properly register to vote in the ward where they live.In a special meeting yesterday afternoon, members of the city Board of Elections chose to take no action against the candidates and said it will be up to voters to decide the fates of the three men.Board members said they did not have the authority to interpret the law by disqualifying the self-proclaimed "political neophytes" -- Republicans Michael Hay in Ward 8 and Timothy T. Troutner in Ward 5, and Democrat James M. Conley in Ward 7."

Three Annapolis residents campaigning for alderman may be ineligible to run in this year's city elections because they did not properly register to vote in the ward where they live.City Elections Board officials say Democrat James M. Conley in Ward 7 and Republicans Timothy T. Troutner in Ward 5 and Michael Hay in Ward 8 failed to register in time to qualify as candidates in their districts.The City Charter states that aldermen "shall be registered voters in the city for at least one year immediately preceding their election."

Whether Republicans will win their first Annapolis city council majority in more than 25 years hinges on how voters wrote in the name of Ward 6 Democratic candidate Cynthia Carter.Carter, 58, an Annapolis native, ran against Republican James R. Lucas, former Alderman Wayne C. Turner's hand-picked successor. But she filed too late to get on the ballot. So the city Board of Elections said in a meeting in October with both candidates that her supporters would have to write in her full name.Therein lies the problem.

In an election guaranteed to put a new mayor in office and five new alderman on the Annapolis city council, the political spotlight has focused on the three-member City Elections Board that is appointed to oversee the races.When three aldermanic candidates failed to meet residency requirements, the board said the voters should decide. When questions about an alderman's residency surfaced, the board said it had no authority to investigate. It said the same when three mayoral candidates failed to disclose a donation of office space on their campaign finance reports.

Why spend on the looks of government?Brian Sullam ("Government deserves good-looking buildings," Aug. 31), says that John G. Gary should not only spend $50,000 to renovate his office in the Arundel Center.He should "redo the whole building," make it like the Siena city hall. The Arundel Center, "the Hulk" as Mr. Sullam calls it, is not the Siena city hall -- nor should it be.Public business is important, Mr. Sullam says, and I agree. I was a bureaucrat for 30 years. The Arundel Center is not an architectural gem, but it was built to house bureacrats with important jobs to do. It is very functional.

An unprecedented surge in registrations, heightened interest in the presidential and congressional races and organized efforts to get voters to the polls did not give Harford County the record turnout many officials expected. "Given the interest and the high numbers in the morning, I thought we were headed toward 90 percent," said James E. Massey, director of the county Board of Elections. "Toward evening, things got quiet, and we ended the day with a 76 percent turnout." Presidential elections typically draw large numbers, with this year's tally at 114,000 voters, he said.

Gambling opponents attacked the wording yesterday of a coming referendum to legalize slot machines on two fronts, with two groups asking the courts to intervene and one demanding that the Maryland State Board of Elections change the ballot language. Stop Slots Maryland, a ballot committee, and anti-slots activists NoCasinoNo filed a lawsuit in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, while Marylanders United to Stop Slots - another ballot committee - pleaded their case before the Board of Elections in Annapolis.

Slots opponents proposed alternative language yesterday for a voter referendum on November's ballot that would legalize slot machine casinos across the state. Scott Arceneaux of Marylanders United to Stop Slots, a ballot committee, submitted the alternative wording in a letter to the State Board of Elections and asked that he be allowed to speak at a board meeting scheduled for today. Arceneaux wants the ballot question to specify that slots revenues would go to "public education, the horse racing industry and lottery operations," as well as to casino operators.

Seventeen-year-old Elaina Bellas likes Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she registered as a Republican for next month's Maryland primary at Mount Hebron High School this week. She has not really decided on a candidate, but her parents are Republicans, so she followed suit, she said. "I think everyone should have an opinion - a voice in who is going to lead our country," Bellas said, as she finished filling out the registration form and prepared to return to class.

Elections board to consider request The Maryland State Board of Elections is weighing whether to post the street addresses of campaign contributors on the Internet, a tool that was briefly available to the public last year but has been removed. "Seven years ago, the concern was that contributors would object to their personal information and street addresses being on a Web site, and that it would have a chilling effect on contributions," said Ross Goldstein, the board's deputy administrator.

With the presidential primary election less than a year away, Howard County's elections board soon will experience a nearly complete turnover in membership. Because of the election of Gov. Martin O'Malley, Maryland's local elections boards will change from majority Republican membership to majority Democratic membership. In Howard, Chairman Guy L. Harriman, a Republican and 10-year board veteran, and Democrat James E. Poole, a six-year veteran, are leaving. Brenda Morstein, the other Republican, has not attended meetings since an internal board dispute last summer.

A bill that would have restructured Howard County's elections board by expanding the number of members from three full members and two substitutes to five full members was withdrawn by Del. Frank S. Turner, the sponsor. Del. Shane E. Pendergrass, the House delegation chairwoman, said the members discussed the idea at a meeting Wednesday morning. Turner withdrew the bill when it became clear that it would not be approved by the county's eight delegates and three senators. Guy Harriman, the elections board chairman, testified against the bill at a hearing last week, arguing that the board functions well as it is. One full Republican member has not been attending board meetings, and the Republican substitute resigned, leaving the board with two full-time members -- one Democrat and one Republican.

Two Anne Arundel County Democrats who haven't conceded their races for the House of Delegates filed a court appeal yesterday to force the counting of 244 paper ballots that the local elections board had tossed out. Andrew D. Levy, an attorney representing Del. Joan Cadden of District 31 and County Councilwoman Barbara D. Samorajczyk of District 30, said the Anne Arundel elections board incorrectly disqualified three sets of provisional ballots from across...

Today is the deadline for Marylanders to request absentee ballots by mail, but voters can still obtain one at their local elections office until Nov. 6, the day before the general election. Sparked by a call from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and other political leaders, Maryland voters have already requested more than 160,000 absentee ballots - more than the state counted in the 2004 presidential election, said Mary Cramer Wagner, the state's director of voter registration. Local election officials have also tripled and quadrupled their orders for paper ballots as a backup, should they experience a repeat of the chaotic September primary, which was marred by equipment failures and human error.

Diebold Election Systems Inc. expressed alarm and state election officials contacted the FBI yesterday after a former legislator received an anonymous package containing what appears to be the computer code that ran Maryland's polls in 2004. Cheryl C. Kagan, a longtime critic of Maryland's elections chief, says the fact that the computer disks were sent to her - along with an unsigned note criticizing the management of the state elections board - demonstrates that Maryland's voting system faces grave security threats.