Our election laws should maximize turnout, with sanctions for those who commit fraudulent acts or seek to prevent others from voting.

Inspired by the long lines of people voting early during the Obama-Romney election, I introduced a bill last year to authorize voting on the Sunday before Election Day.

The State Board of Elections, however, was concerned that there would be too little time between Sunday evening and 7 a.m. on Tuesday to download the data on who had already voted to the electronic poll books used at each precinct.

My proposal did not pass, but another bill was amended to require a study of the impact of Sunday voting on voter turnout and the technical changes required to implement this reform.

The University of Baltimore published its study this week.

I found out yesterday that the hearing date for House Bill 263, my Sunday voting legislation, will be February 6.

I told my staff this morning that I will have to respond to the concerns raised in the UB study.

I later learned that when Attorney General Gansler officially filed his candidacy for governor today, he announced that he supported early voting on Saturday but not Sunday.

The hearing on my bill may be the first time this session that the politics of the Democratic primary becomes part of the legislative process.

It won’t be the last.