***MEDIA RELEASE***

Maryland Voting Rights Groups Applaud Attorney
General Letter of Advice:
Election Judge “Noshows” Do Not Require
Shutting Down Polling Sites

Following the release of an important Maryland State Attorney General letter of advice saying that “noshow” election judges should not keep polling sites from opening while officials attempt to fill vacancies, an ad hoc Maryland voting rights coalition is sounding a call to ensure that election officials, campaigns, get-out-the-vote groups, and voters know that “noshows” must not undermine the fundamental right to vote in Maryland.

Following widespread problems with “noshow” election judges in Baltimore City during this year’s Primary Election, Dels. Samuel (Sandy) Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City) and Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery) asked for the AG letter of advice, following separate requests by the SEIU MD/DC State Council and the ACLU of Maryland, which is a member of the voting rights coalition. The coalition also includes the Advancement Project, Ariel & Ethan, LLC, Justice Maryland, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Maryland League of Women Voters, NAACP, People for the American Way Foundation, and Project Vote.

The letter of advice states:  “In our view, the State and federal constitutions guarantee a citizen the right to vote in his or her ward or district.  State law also requires a local board of elections to assign a specified number of election judges affiliated with the two major parties to each polling place.  This allocation of election judges is designed to facilitate a fair election process by enlisting the official participation of members of the two major parties in the oversight of elections.  The State election law anticipates that election judges may fail to appear or may leave a polling place and states that, in those circumstances, the local board of elections or the other judges at the polling place “may” fill such a vacancy.  However, it does not require that the polls be shut down in the interim. Nor does it otherwise modify the hours of voting prescribed by the State election law.  In any event, the failure of some election judges to appear does not justify abridgement of the constitutional right to vote.” [italics added]

The voting rights coalition calls on the State Board of Elections and local election boards across the state to ensure that election judges understand the AG’s newly released letter of advice on “noshows.” We believe, and the letter of advice also reiterates, that the right to vote is “preservative of all other basic civil and political rights.”  No voter should lose his or her right to vote in Maryland’s General Election next week due to election judge “noshows.”

Click here for a copy of the AG letter of advice!

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