election reform – Sandy Rosenberg

Ensured to Jeopardized and Back Again

April 4, 2023 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

The amendments to my bill ensured its passage in the House.

They jeopardized its fate in the Senate.

House Bill 410, the Election Reform Act of 2023, would give neighborhoods a voice before a change is made to their polling place.

It would also move the date of next year’s primary to May 14 to avoid a conflict with Passover and Ramadan.

The Speaker added language requiring every local election board to report to the state board on the number of polling places to prevent their reduction in historically disenfranchised communities.

That change guaranteed that my bill would pass the House.

At the Senate hearing, however, the local boards opposed HB 410 because they considered this requirement burdensome.

I learned today, however, that a compromise was reached.

My bill is now on its way to the Senate floor.

Action on the House Floor and Elsewhere

March 16, 2023 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

There’s language I’m trying to add to the budget bill.

There’s language in the budget bill I’m trying to revise or delete.

I was told that my legislation on domestic terrorism would be reported to the House floor.

Then I ran into the floor leader for the bill.

He asked me for my thoughts on two issues he expected to be asked about during the floor debate tomorrow.

My Election Reform Act of 2023 passed House,

The bill moves next year’s primary election date to avoid a conflict with Passover and Ramadan.

It also requires better notice to a community about a proposed change in its polling place.

Tomorrow, I’ll be defending my bill protecting the privacy of women who receive reproductive health care and the people who provide that care, when it’s debated on the House floor.

Three Election Reform Provisions, Not Hypotheticals

February 14, 2023 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

My Election Reform Act of 2022 has three provisions.

“Two of the problems that House Bill 410 addresses are not hypothetical,” I testified today.

“One addresses what will no doubt soon not be a hypothetical.”

Before last year’s primary, the polling place for the Grove Park neighborhood was moved from the local school to the fire station.

From plenty of parking to no parking.

My bill would require that if a polling place change is made more than 21 days before the election, there must be a public hearing.

This would give the affected voters an opportunity to express their concerns.

In Maryland and other states, election boards were swamped with public information requests that interfered with necessary preparations for last year’s elections.

Under HB 410, an election board may deny access to election records, within 90 days of an election, if a judge finds that inspection of the records would cause “substantial injury to the public interest.”

Finally, it is already against the law to willfully influence or attempt to influence through the use of force, fraud and other illegal acts a voter’s decision to “go to the polls to cast a vote.”

My legislation would make such actions illegal, when directed at a voter’s decision to “vote by other lawful means,” such as a mail ballot.