General Election

Imagine the job announcement: "State of Maryland seeks temporary employees to safeguard democracy. Candidates must be willing to work for below the minimum wage without benefits or gratitude, enjoy inflexible and long workdays, attend multiple training sessions, and be prepared to deal with angry voters. Interested? We want you to be a Maryland election judge." As the General Assembly considers how to regain the trust of Marylanders in the way elections are conducted, it would do well to look beyond early voting, paper trails and Diebold machine flaws.

A proposed charter amendment that Baltimore voters will consider in November could place the city's primary more than a year ahead of the next election for mayor.The ballot question asks voters to move the mayoral elections to coincide with the presidential race, a move that could save taxpayers up to $4 million, according to the City Council member who pushed for the ballot issue.Under state law, Baltimore voters can decide the timing of the general election, held every four years in November.

WASHINGTON -- Flush with more campaign cash than all the other presidential candidates combined, Gov. George W. Bush announced yesterday that he would forgo federal funding in next year's primaries.The decision, which the front-running Texan had been planning for months, gives him a huge advantage by freeing him from limits on spending in the Republican nomination contest.If he wins that fight quickly, he would be well-positioned to launch an early general election campaign against his Democratic opponent.

A proposed charter amendment that Baltimore voters will consider in November could place the city's primary more than a year ahead of the next election for mayor.The ballot question asks voters to move the mayoral elections to coincide with the presidential race, a move that could save taxpayers up to $4 million, according to the City Council member who pushed for the ballot issue.Under state law, Baltimore voters can decide the timing of the general election, held every four years in November.

Owings Mills accountant Larry M. Epstein has apparently won the Republican nomination for state comptroller by seven votes.Officials said the margin -- out of 182,000 votes cast in the primary race -- is the closest statewide election in years.Epstein, 49, the 1990 GOP nominee for the post, defeated rival Timothy R. Mayberry -- 42,487 votes to 42,480 -- according to unofficial results tallied yesterday by state officials."It is unbelievable," Epstein said of the tight vote count, adding: "As someone said to me, whether it's seven votes or 700,000 votes, it really doesn't matter after the fact."

Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey has taken a clear lead over Gov. Parris N. Glendening in broadcast television spending in what promises to be the most expensive political media blitz in Maryland's history.With a month remaining before Election Day, Sauerbrey has spent almost $2 million for general election advertising on the top television stations in the Baltimore and Washington markets -- more than the $1.8 million she raised for all purposes in 1994.Meanwhile, Glendening has spent slightly less than $1.5 million at the eight stations for advertising since the Sept.

With its proposal for a new form of county government written, the Carroll charter board has one issue left to consider: When will the public get to vote on the proposal?The nine-member board must decide whether the charter government proposal will appear on a special ballot or wait until the general election in November. The charter would change county government from three commissioners to an executive and council.The debate that ensues among board members Thursday could determine how many of them endorse the document they have spent six months writing.

THE CHARTER drafting committee has almost completed its work, well ahead of its 18-month deadline. But, as ever, the devil is in the details.The Institute for Government Service at the University of Maryland is reviewing the document for legality and consistency. The institute performed the same service in 1992, when the last charter proposal for Carroll County was drafted.Not that there's any obvious flaw or contradiction in the document. The nine Carroll citizens who wrote the draft, even with their sharp disagreements on specific clauses, do not suggest that there is a defect, a nub of legalistic contention.

When a state commission voted last week to recommend eliminating contested elections for Maryland's Circuit Court benches, a member of the panel pointed to Howard County's bitter judicial race as a perfect example of the reason."

LUCKHAM, India -- As the daughter of tea pickers who have worked for generations in the green hillsides around this village in southern India, Bhageshwari went to the polls every election day with her parents.Yesterday, at age 20, on a day when India went to the polls at the start of its 11th general election since independence, the young woman was old enough for the first time to vote herself. The election will continue across India with two more voting days, May 2 and 7, and with results expected about May 10.Bhageshwari walked a mile to a polling place in the old fieldstone schoolhouse she attended as a child.

WASHINGTON -- When he decided to leave Congress before the end of his term to join a Washington lobbying giant, Rep. Albert R. Wynn left his constituents with a choice: Pay for a costly special election to fill his seat or go unrepresented in the House for the remainder of the congressional session. The dilemma is rankling even some of his fellow Democrats. "Congressman Wynn's decision makes more financial sense for him than it does for the state," state Sen. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County, a Democrat whose district overlaps Wynn's, said yesterday.

Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday that 17-year-olds may vote in nonpartisan primary elections. The Court of Appeals ruling cements a Feb. 1 order in Anne Arundel Circuit Court that allows 17-year-olds who will turn 18 before the general election in November and who registered to vote by last month's deadline to cast ballots Tuesday in nonpartisan primary elections, such as those for county school boards and district judges. The Court of Appeals ruled that voter eligibility provisions of the Maryland Constitution "are not in conflict" with the state's election law, which says that 17-year-olds who will be 18 before the general election may vote in the primary.

Seventeen-year-olds, who recently won the right to vote in Maryland primaries, are also entitled to cast ballots in nonpartisan elections, an Anne Arundel County judge ruled yesterday. The decision by Judge Paul A. Hackner will allow teenagers who will turn 18 by the Nov. 4 general election and who registered to vote by last month's deadline to have a say in local school board and District Court judge races taking place Feb. 12. His order is at odds with Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who determined last month that the state constitution does not allow for early voters to partake in nonpartisan elections, including ballot questions.

Mayor Sheila Dixon decisively won her bid to lead Baltimore yesterday as voters gave her an overwhelming, if predictable, victory and made her the first woman elected as the city's mayor. Dixon, the 53-year-old former president of the City Council, will sit at the head of a government led almost exclusively by black women - including the newly elected president of the City Council, the city comptroller, who won a fourth term yesterday, and the city state's attorney. Unofficial returns showed Dixon with a solid lead over Republican Elbert R. Henderson, who did not aggressively campaign for the position and faced devastating odds before he even put his name on the ballot.

In a glossy brochure for the voter check-in system that Diebold Election Systems debuted in Maryland last year, the state's elections chief offers glowing praise. "Our election judges just love this product, and so do I," says Linda H. Lamone, administrator for the State Board of Elections, whose color photo appears in the brochure. "We in Maryland are extremely pleased with the performance of the system during the general election." What Lamone didn't mention, however, was that the check-in machines crashed during the September primary, leading to long delays at some precincts and prompting then-Gov.

Imagine the job announcement: "State of Maryland seeks temporary employees to safeguard democracy. Candidates must be willing to work for below the minimum wage without benefits or gratitude, enjoy inflexible and long workdays, attend multiple training sessions, and be prepared to deal with angry voters. Interested? We want you to be a Maryland election judge." As the General Assembly considers how to regain the trust of Marylanders in the way elections are conducted, it would do well to look beyond early voting, paper trails and Diebold machine flaws.

Local and state politicians have so toyed with Baltimore's election schedule that in 2003 and 2004, there was a 14-month gap between the city's primary and general elections. As a result, the mayor and City Council members were elected to five-year terms - and then three-year terms. The city's elections would be rescheduled again under a proposal before the General Assembly. The Baltimore Senate delegation and Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller want to align the city's elections with state gubernatorial elections, over the opposition of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Legislative leaders are pledging to make voting issues a priority when the General Assembly convenes next month, with members working on a constitutional amendment to allow multiple days of early voting and a solution to alleged security flaws in Maryland's electronic touch-screen equipment. The push comes after years of tension surrounding the management of the state's elections, numerous federal- and state-mandated changes and distrust among voters after a disastrous September primary, which led to the highest-ever use of absentee ballots in the November general election.

Leopold thanks Anne Arundel voters I would like to thank the citizens of Anne Arundel County who cast their vote for me in the recent general election. As I take a moment to think of the work ahead, I recognize that it will take all of us working together, committed to improving the quality of life for all who live and work in our great county. I want to thank my worthy primary and general election opponents for running spirited campaigns. It is not about party affiliation, but about service to others.

ABSENTEE BALLOTS Applications for absentee ballots received by the county election board as of late Friday: 10,400 Absentee ballots cast in the September primary: 1,538 2004 general election: 7,024 2002 general election: 3,576 VOTING INFO The county's 69 polling precincts will be open for voting from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Delays can be avoided by voting between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The general election is open to all registered voters. The name and location of where you are assigned to vote is listed on your voter's card.