Maryland Voters

Maryland voters are supportive of health care reform even though some still haven't grasped all the details, a new survey has found. The survey sponsored by independent health philanthropy The Horizon Foundation and advocacy group Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition , found that those who would gain the most from health reform seemed to know the least about it. The study results were based on a telphone poll of 1,413 voters conducted September 14 to 23. Fifty-nine percent of respondents support health reform, compared to 19 percent who oppose it. The other 22 percent are unsure.

In casting their ballots for Question 6, what Maryland voters were actually doing was putting their stamp of approval on homosexuality. Most gays and lesbians aren't interested in getting married. They do want to have same-sex relationships and not be called names for doing so. It will be interesting to see how many marriages occur in this group. If there is no significant increase in same-sex unions, a terrible mistake was made. An institution that has kept the human race in existence since its beginning will have been irreversibly changed for nothing.

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.

Voters across Maryland reported record lines and waits of up to two hours Tuesday as a close presidential contest and several controversial state ballot questions drew people to the polls. "In all the elections I've been to, I've never seen a line this long," former congresswoman Helen Bentley said of her precinct at Dulaney High School. Maryland could become the first state in the nation to uphold gay marriage on referendum. Voters are considering another first - whether to grant in-state college tuition to certain illegal immigrants, the only time in the country the issue has been decided at the polls.

If four years ago they voted for historic change, on Tuesday, Maryland supporters of President Barack Obama cast their ballots for patience. "I figure that in four years, he couldn't have done everything to right the course after the previous administration," Kimberly Shorter, 39, of Woodlawn said after casting her vote for him. "Of course, there was some disappointment with the fact that he didn't do everything he set out to do, but he's human...

Maryland voters will decide the outcome of seven ballot questions in November. Question 1 - All Maryland voters will decide whether the judges in Prince George's County who oversee estate and will disputes must be admitted to the Maryland Bar. Baltimore City and Montgomery and Harford counties currently require this. Supporters say the measure will professionalize the so-called “Orphan's Court” which oversees estate disputes. Opponents are concerned that the change will lead to a statewide requirement that Orphan's Court judges be attorneys, which they believe is unnecessary.

On Election Day, voters will have the opportunity to continue the state's long tradition of welcoming new Americans and valuing education by supporting the Maryland Dream Act at the polls. A "For" vote on Question 4 will affirm the law signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley that provides in-state tuition to students who were brought to the U.S. at a young age, have been here for at least three years, graduate from high school in Maryland, and whose parents pay their taxes. The students must attend a community college for two years before entering one of the state's public four-year colleges or universities.

Half of Marylanders view Martin O'Malley's performance as governor favorably, but only one in five say they would support him for president, according to a new poll conducted for The Baltimore Sun. After a rocky year that included two special sessions of the General Assembly and an income tax increase, 50 percent of likely Maryland voters surveyed said they approve of the job O'Malley is doing, while 43 percent disapprove. Even as O'Malley has taken a conspicuous role in the national political debate, home-state voters reject the notion of his moving into the White House by more than a 2-1 margin.

As the Nov. 6 election nears, likely Maryland voters are evenly divided on whether to make same-sex marriage legal in the state after opposition has grown in recent weeks, according to a new opinion poll conducted for The Baltimore Sun. Meanwhile, most voters are against Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to expand gambling in Maryland, the poll found. Voters oppose the measure 54 percent to 39 percent - figures that are virtually unchanged over the past month despite a multimillion-dollar barrage of television ads seeking to sway public opinion.