Maryland Republicans Just Sued to Keep the Redistricting Question Off Your Ballot

Aug 11

THE DISPATCH — CIVIC EDUCATION

A follow-up to our August 6 Dispatch: Governor Moore made the amendment official, and now a courtroom fight over missed deadlines could decide whether Marylanders even get to vote on it this November.

This is a follow-up to our August 6 Dispatch, "Who Draws the Lines? Part 2," which covered the special session vote itself. Since then, two things have happened. Governor Moore held a ceremonial bill signing, even though the constitution didn't require one. And Maryland Republicans filed the lawsuit they'd been promising, aimed squarely at keeping the redistricting question off your ballot altogether.

That might sound like a side skirmish to the main fight over district lines. It's not. If this lawsuit succeeds, Marylanders don't get a say on redistricting at all this November. The question just disappears, regardless of how anyone feels about the underlying policy.

FIRST: CAN A LAWSUIT ACTUALLY KEEP A QUESTION OFF THE BALLOT?

Yes, and it happens more often than people realize. Before any constitutional amendment reaches voters, election officials have to follow a specific set of steps and deadlines for certifying the ballot language and giving the public a chance to weigh in. If a court finds those steps weren't followed, it can order the question pulled from the ballot entirely, even if the underlying amendment already passed the Legislature by a wide margin.

Think of it like a permission slip for a school field trip. It doesn't matter how excited the class is to go or how many parents already signed off. If the school skipped a required step, like getting the trip approved by the district office by a certain date, the trip can still get cancelled on a technicality. That's the kind of argument Republicans are making here: not that the amendment itself is wrong, but that the process used to get it on the ballot broke the rules.

WHAT HAPPENED

Quick recap: on August 3 and 4, the General Assembly held a special session and passed House Bill 2100, a constitutional amendment about how congressional maps get drawn, 96-38 in the House and 32-13 in the Senate. We covered that vote, and Delegate Hutchinson's failed Eastern Shore secession amendment, in our last Dispatch.

Here's what's new. On August 6, Governor Moore held a ceremonial signing of HB 2100 in the State House. Constitutional amendments don't legally require a governor's signature since they go straight to voters, and Moore's office confirmed that. He chose to sign it anyway, saying redistricting reform has been a priority of his for the past year.

That same week, Maryland Republicans filed the lawsuit they'd promised. The case, Howell v. Maryland State Board of Elections, was filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court by all seven members of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, and Mike Howell, president of the conservative Oversight Project.

The lawsuit doesn't challenge whether the amendment is good policy. It argues Maryland law requires the Secretary of State to certify ballot language by July 1 before a general election and provide a 15-day public comment period, and that this amendment missed those deadlines entirely because it wasn't passed until the August special session. Plaintiffs say lawmakers tried to work around that by inserting a "notwithstanding any other provision of law" clause directly into HB 2100, and they argue that clause is itself unconstitutional.

WHAT SUPPORTERS OF THE AMENDMENT SAY

Governor Moore and Democratic leaders maintain the special session followed proper legislative procedure, and that the Legislature has the authority to set its own rules for how a constitutional referendum reaches the ballot, including overriding a conflicting statute through explicit language in the bill itself. They argue the "notwithstanding" clause exists precisely because lawmakers anticipated the timing issue and addressed it directly, rather than hiding it.

WHAT CRITICS SAY

The plaintiffs argue that no matter how the Legislature dresses it up, state election law sets real deadlines for a reason: so voters and county election boards have adequate notice and time to prepare ballots. They say waiving that requirement instead of following it isn't how Maryland's constitution is supposed to work, and that letting the Legislature override its own procedural rules whenever convenient sets a troubling precedent for future ballot questions of any kind.

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET

Whether the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court will rule before ballots need to be finalized for the November 3 election. Whether either side will appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court, and how quickly. And, if the lawsuit fails and the question stays on the ballot, how Marylanders will actually vote on it in November.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Check goodtroublecircle.org/dispatch for updates as the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court case moves forward. We'll flag it the moment there's a ruling.
Register to vote or confirm your registration is current at elections.maryland.gov regardless of how this lawsuit turns out. If the question survives, you'll want to be ready.
Look up Howell v. Maryland State Board of Elections yourself on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search rather than relying on either side's talking points.

Want to track the lawsuit yourself instead of taking our word for it?

Look Up the Case →

Chris Esters