Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday night approved a plan that would drastically reduce the number of polling stations per person in the state for the Nov. 3 presidential election after a week-long standoff with the state Board of Elections, which insists on a plan full of fewer voice locations due to concerns about coronavirus.
Hogan, on the other hand, publicly feared that the plan for consolidated voting locations would actually increase the spread of the virus.
A statement issued by the governor late Monday will allow the board to set up “voting centers” that allow any eligible voter to go to that county, instead of the traditional model of the polling station where voters are assigned a specific location where ‘ t they can vote. This would include about 280 public schools that serve as polling stations for election day and about 80 centers for early voting. These centers will be able to handle higher volumes of voters per electoral judge, which means that the state may in theory be able to handle the crowds of election day, despite a shortage of people doing volunteer work to help the to hold state elections amid the pandemic.
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But Hogan reluctantly authorized the plan. In an accompanying letter, published by ABC 7, the mayor recorded his concerns that “the council’s decision to close almost 80% of the ballot box will have the potential to create long lines and unsafe conditions, with crowds of people be forced into too few polling stations. “
That had been a problem during the June primary election in Maryland. Hogan announced earlier this summer his intention to hold an election with each polling station open – in addition to the state that sent absentee ballots to each voter and encouraged courageous voting – to restrict rules. But the Board of Election postponed the plan for weeks before Hogan finally gave his proclamation Monday.
Among the reasons the Board of Elections opposed Hogan’s plan was the lack of electoral judges. The Washington Post reported that since last week, the state has just over 60 percent of the number of judges it needed to hold an election.
But Hogan accused the board of being slow-moving efforts to recruit enough election judges to carry out the plan – WBALTV reported that in some cases people called the board to volunteer to be election judges and were told to call back later. The Electoral Commission said it “encourages all interested citizens to apply to serve as electoral judges as election.maryland.gov.” Hogan further criticized the board for not sending absentee ballot applications on time, which he directed the board to do.
In this June 3, 2020 photo, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan during a news conference in Annapolis, Mw. Hogan has been involved for weeks with his state Board of Elections on how to conduct the November 3 presidential election. (AP photo / Brian Witte, file)
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“More than two months have passed,” Hogan said in an Aug. 3 letter to the Board of Elections, referring to the troubled primary June, “and you have not yet given a plan for how you will conduct an election. .This is your sole responsibility and your sole responsibility. Instead, we have seen two months of delay and deflection on why polls cannot be opened, and why voting applications can not be emailed. Media reports indicate that those who try to give the volunteers volunteer work are told that it is not sure if there is a need and that they will have to call back at a later date. “
Another problem has been that many locations that typically serve as polling places are declining to do so in the midst of the pandemic. Hogan also lashed out at the fact that in some minority municipalities almost all polling stations could close if local officials got their way.
“We are very concerned about recent attempts to deny Marylanders the right to vote. Local leaders have proposed massive closures of polling stations, especially in some of our minority communities. This would likely result in voter repression and a large-scale, disparate exemption. affect Marylanders by color, “Hogan said in an Aug. 3 statement. Letter. “Last week, we received a letter from Prince George’s County – one of the nation’s most dominant African-American counties with a total population of 900,000 – stating that they want to close 229 areas and only open 15. Imagine for that 244 polling stations all try to jam at 15 locations while you try to distance and keep people safe.
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Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks accused Hogan, in rejecting that request, of “high contempt” for the fact that her province has been hit hard by the coronavirus, in a statement reported by the Washington Post. She said the idea of consolidating polling stations was not out of concern for the disease and promoting “a safe and responsible voting process for our citizens.”
The consistent delays and confusion have led to calls from Maryland to participate in the eight states set up to post real votes – not just applications – to each voter. It was one of the options the board presented in a report earlier this year and progressive groups such as the ACLU of Maryland and Common Cause Maryland are calling on Hogan to send votes to each voter.
“It’s still possible to avoid a potential public health disaster – not to mention voter oppression and a waste of millions of dollars – but Governor Hogan needs to act quickly,” General Maryland Executive Director Joanne Antoine told a Baltimore Sun. ed co-written with Sam Novey, the co-founder of Baltimore Votes. “Election officials said they would have to change course from mid-August to begin the process of sending votes to all voters. If he refuses to act, more people will become unnecessarily ill and die, and history will remind Governor Hogan of this betrayal. of leadership. “
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But sending e-mail votes would require a change in state law, and the governor has taken a position that the Board of Elections will need the elections that are consistent with state law, without changes.
“As you know, existing state law requires polling stations to be open on election day,” Hogan said on August 3. “It also requires eight days of early voting and opportunities for voters to apply for missing mail-in ballots. Under existing law, and to save voters the extra step of applying for an absentee ballot, have “I’m directing you to send email applications immediately to every registered voter in Maryland. It’s been 26 days now, and you’ve not succeeded in doing so.”
The board has said it should send out absentee ballot requests by the end of August.
