Elections Board

Unhappy that their petition drive to put the housing portion of the downtown Columbia rezoning on November's ballot was disqualified by the Howard County Board of Elections, Russell Swatek's Taxpayers Against Giveaways group has asked for a review in Circuit Court, he said, and will seek federal court relief, too. County elections board administrator Betty Nordaas confirmed that judicial review has been requested and said the board has also taken...

A Circuit Court judge approved a consent agreement yesterday between the Carroll County Board of Elections and a Sykesville resident that calls for the November election of five commissioners by district. The agreement came just hours after a lawsuit was filed by the resident demanding that the board uphold a 2004 referendum approved by voters. That referendum expanded the number of commissioners from three to five members and required them to be elected by district. "I think this is very positive," said Patricia K. Matsko, director of the elections board.

When she becomes Maryland's acting election administrator next week, Robin Downs Colbert will find herself in familiar territory. Democrats are questioning the Republican-led election board's decision to replace administrator Linda H. Lamone with Colbert two months before Marylanders cast their first electronic ballots in a presidential election. But Colbert has done this before. Not only did she work in the state elections office for 15 years, but she also took over Prince George's County's top election post just three months before the 2000 election.

THE CLOSER Sun reporters look into campaign filings at the state election board, the clearer it becomes Maryland's election law apparatus has broken down. There is no systematic enforcement of donation limits, and precious little prosecution.Reporters William F. Zorzi Jr. and Walter F. Roche Jr. discovered that at least seven individuals and companies -- including Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos and bakery entrepreneur John Paterakis -- had exceeded Maryland's $10,000 limit on political donations in a four-year cycle.

Lawyers representing developers of the former Solo Cup and Middle River Depot properties asked the Baltimore County elections board Friday to reject petitions for a referendum to overturn zoning votes, saying the signatures were obtained by fraud. A memo they filed with the board also argues that the law does not allow local zoning decisions to go to referendum and that petitions that circulated throughout the community did not include legally required information to explain to people what they were signing.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, who is running a write-in campaign to keep her seat in the Nov. 8 election, accused the city elections board Tuesday of committing "major fraud" by mailing out incorrect absentee ballots to 7th District voters. Conaway said she has confirmed that at least seven voters in her district received 6th District absentee ballots in the mail, and worries that the problem could be more widespread. Conaway said she sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., asking him to intervene in the administration of the election.

Still fighting state fines from ethics violations in a previous job, Howard County's elections board administrator, Robert J. Antonetti Sr., is facing a new test -- a potentially critical performance evaluation from the elections board president. Despite an ice cream cake and congratulations offered Antonetti on his 66th birthday at Monday's board meeting, the Rev. Roland L. Howard Sr., elections board president, said he is not happy with the administrator on two counts. Antonetti's continuing legal fight to avoid paying fines in a case that has been decided by the Court of Appeals -- Maryland's highest court -- "doesn't look good for Howard County, that we're having all this ruckus," Howard said.

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.

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.

Bid to cut vehicle pollution dies in Senate committee A bill to reduce air pollution from cars and trucks died yesterday in a state Senate committee after it was opposed by the Ehrlich administration, automobile manufacturers, car dealers and business groups. The so-called Clean Cars Bill was killed in a 6-5 vote by Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Environmental and public health groups, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics, had supported tighter standards employed by California and seven Eastern states because of rising child asthma rates.