Current:Home > FinanceMaryland Senate votes for special elections to fill legislative vacancies-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Maryland Senate votes for special elections to fill legislative vacancies
View Date:2024-12-23 22:38:29
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland voters would decide in a special election whether people who are appointed to vacancies in the state legislature keep their seats in the first two years of a term, under a proposed constitutional amendment approved by the state Senate on Tuesday.
The measure, which passed on a 43-2 vote, now goes to the Maryland House. If the House approves, it will go on the ballot for voters to have the final say in November.
Maryland lawmakers have been weighing changes to how vacancies are filled in the General Assembly, because roughly 25% of its 188 members were initially appointed to their seats, instead of being elected by the voters.
Currently, local political central committees choose someone to fill vacancies when a lawmaker leaves office. That name is sent to the governor, who then formalizes the selection with an appointment.
In the current process, it’s possible for someone to be appointed early in a term and go on to serve more then three years as a state legislator without ever being elected by voters. That long duration has been highlighted this term after Gov. Wes Moore tapped recently re-elected legislators to serve in his administration or in other posts in state government.
Government watchdog groups have been urging lawmakers to change the procedure to give voters a voice on filling vacancies, especially when a legislator departs early in a new term.
The basic idea under the proposed change is for someone appointed in the first half of the legislature’s four-year term to face voters in a special election that would take place in the term’s second year, when the U.S. presidential election already is held.
However, it’s possible someone could be appointed to his or her seat too late in the second year of the term for a special election to be held. Under the proposed change, if a vacancy happens on or before the date that is 55 days from the state’s candidate filing deadline in the term’s first two years, the governor would call for a special primary election and a special general election to coincide with the regular elections that take place in the second year of a term.
“This is a special election that basically is concurrent with the presidential election, but it saves our counties money because they don’t have to run special elections,” Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, recently said when the bill came to the Senate floor. “They can just do an add-on and make sure that there’s democracy, and the voters will get to have their voice.”
Someone appointed to the legislature in the third or fourth year of the term would face the voters in regularly scheduled elections for state lawmakers.
If the constitutional amendment is approved, the change would not apply until the next term.
veryGood! (87)
Related
- AP Top 25: Oregon remains No. 1 as Big Ten grabs 4 of top 5 spots; Georgia, Miami out of top 10
- Dex Carvey, son of comedian Dana Carvey, dies at 32 of accidental overdose
- Drake's new EP features song praising Taylor Swift
- Karol G wins album of the year at 2023 Latin Grammys: See the winners list
- Taylor Swift gifts 7-year-old '22' hat after promising to meet her when she was a baby
- 'That's a first': Drone sightings caused two delays during Bengals-Ravens game
- Ukrainian marines claim multiple bridgeheads across a key Russian strategic barrier
- Dolly Parton Reveals the Real Reason Husband Carl Dean Doesn't Attend Public Events With Her
- Mason Bates’ Met-bound opera ‘Kavalier & Clay’ based on Michael Chabon novel premieres in Indiana
- Thousands march through Athens to mark 50 years since student uprising crushed by dictatorship
Ranking
- Stock market today: Asian shares meander, tracking Wall Street’s mixed finish as dollar surges
- Families of missing in Mexico urge authorities to dig at spot where dogs were seen with body parts
- Is Thanksgiving officially out? Why Martha Stewart canceled her holiday dinner
- Court orders Balance of Nature to stop sales of supplements after FDA lawsuits
- Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
- Court orders Balance of Nature to stop sales of supplements after FDA lawsuits
- Economic fact in literary fiction
- Maren Morris clarifies she's not leaving country music, just the 'toxic parts'
Recommendation
-
Kim Kardashian Says She's Raising Her and Kanye West's 4 Kids By Herself
-
Pennsylvania high court justice’s name surfaces in brother’s embezzlement trial
-
5 charged after brothers found dead of suspected overdose in Alabama, officials say
-
British writer AS Byatt, author of ‘Possession,’ dies at 87
-
Statue of the late US Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, is unveiled in his native Alabama
-
Russian parliament passes record budget, boosting defense spending and shoring up support for Putin
-
New Jersey casino, internet, sport bet revenue up 6.6% in October but most casinos trail 2019 levels
-
Ravens can breathe easy with Lamar Jackson – for now – after QB gives stiff-arm to injury scare