Baltimore Sun

Lawmakers have begun drafting plans for early voting after Marylanders approved the practice last fall, but the state elections chief urged them Wednesday to limit the process or risk a disaster during next year’s election.

Testifying on voting issues in Annapolis, elections administrator Linda H. Lamone cautioned legislators to abandon a plan that would allow “anyone to vote anywhere,” in favor of allowing voters to cast early decisions only in their home counties.

“Let’s wait until we get our sea legs,” she said, before expanding early-voting options. “We don’t want anything to go wrong.”

With more than 500 styles of ballots across the state — about 100 in Prince George’s County alone — Lamone predicted problems ensuring that voters receive the correct ballot, and steep costs associated with printing enough of the many ballot styles. Maryland is switching from touch-screen machines to optical scanning of paper ballots, making ballot distribution more unwieldy.

Lamone also told lawmakers that early voting could create a serious time crunch for elections officials, with primary and general elections separated by just 45 days. She ticked off the steps between the two elections and concluded that officials would have less than two weeks before Election Day to work with early voting — “if nothing goes wrong.”

Baltimore County is Maryland’s political weather vane, moving whichever way the winds seem to be blowing during any given election.     

The county surrounds Baltimore City on three sides.   In population, it is the third largest jurisdiction in Maryland, likely home to 800,000 people when the census is taken in 2010.     

Baltimore County is a decidedly suburban jurisdiction.   Neighborhoods inside the Baltimore Beltway were built-up in the years after the Second World War.  Today, much of the development here—in places like Towson, Overlea, Catonsville, and Dundalk—is the result of companies squeezing projects onto the last fingers of open space left from the postwar building binge.     

Politically, many of these older neighborhoods are home to the famous “Reagan Democrats.”  These socially conservative voters will pick Republicans in many federal elections, but switch back to Democrats for local races.   They did it again this year, as Republican nominee John McCain won some of his best margins in eastern Baltimore County. 

The most intense development, meanwhile, is occurring on virgin land in the northwest (Owings Mills and Randallstown) and the northeast (Perry Hall and White Marsh).   The two areas are quite different in their voting habits.  The northwest, home to large numbers of African American and Jewish voters, is bedrock Democratic.   The northeast, meanwhile, votes like an extension of Republican Harford County. 

The northern third of the county is almost entirely rural except for the ribbon of development along York Road leading to Hunt Valley.   This is the county’s Republican heartland, producing such politicians as former Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, former gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey, and former Governor Bob Ehrlich.  

A county this complicated and diverse tends to break for whichever candidate is winning the state.   When Bob Ehrlich won the 2002 governor’s race, he captured 62 percent of the vote in Baltimore County, holding the Republican base in northern Baltimore County while slicing into the Democratic northwest and the inner suburbs.   Ehrlich won the county four years later, but not with the same margin—and that sealed his fate in a statewide election. 

Baltimore County will again play a pivotal role in the 2010 election.  Governor O’Malley’s tax increases were very unpopular in Baltimore County, but it will still take a Republican candidate with local appeal to carry the county with enough votes to offset losses elsewhere in the state.   

There will also be an election for a new County Executive in 2010.  

Baltimore County has historically been led by conservative Democrats (ironically, putting many Republican activists and politicians to the left of those in power).   The current Democratic County Executive, Jim Smith, is no exception, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from the development industry and other business interests.     

Smith has broken with the consensus-driven style of his predecessors.  His predecessor, Dutch Ruppersberger, actively worked with Republican colleagues.  Smith, on the other hand, has been a partisan Baltimore County Executive, playing an active role—some would say the key role—in defeating Ehrlich in 2006.  His current chief of staff is Governor O’Malley’s brother. 

Political observers believe there are at least three Democrats who may enter the race to succeed Smith, all current members of the County Council:  Joseph Bartenfelder, Vince Gardina, and Kevin Kamenetz.   Republican Delegate Pat McDonough has also announced.   

The County Executive really sets the tone in Baltimore County, and the outcome of this race will say a lot about the direction of Maryland’s most pluralistic jurisdiction. 

Bartenfelder represents Parkville, Rosedale, and the booming Baltimore County waterfront.  A former delegate, Bartenfelder is the most conservative of the Democratic bunch.  He has good relations with many Republicans and would likely mark a return to the Dutch Ruppersberger style of governing.    

Gardina has served on the County Council since 1990, longer than anyone else.  He represents a district that stretches from Towson to Perry Hall.  He has focused on environmental issues during his career.  A strongly partisan Democrat, he would differ from Smith mainly on priorities.  Gardina would likely emphasize “green” issues like sustainability, recycling, and energy conservation.   

Kamenetz represents Owings Mills, Pikesville, and Ruxton.  He is very smart and detail-oriented, and definitely one of the leaders on the current County Council.  Kamenetz recently impressed community leaders from around the county by leading the opposition to a new sign ordinance.   It is tough to predict Kamenetz’s style other than to say he would be a very strong County Executive. 

McDonough, the only Republican in the race, is continually underestimated.  He is enormously popular in eastern Baltimore County, where he was the top vote-getter among state legislative candidates in 2006.  He would be a populist candidate, appealing to socially conservative Democrats and Independents.   One model for him as County Executive could be Anne Arundel’s John Leopold, a Republican who has focused on quality of life issues, law and order, and curtailing illegal immigration. 

Over the next year, some of these candidates will drop out, and others may enter.  The results in 2010 will say a lot about Baltimore County and its role in a very liberal, very Democratic Maryland.              

WBAL.com

Democrat Frank Kratovil has increased his lead in the race for Maryland’s only open congressional seat following a count of provisional ballots on Monday.

[...]

Now, Kratovil has gained 151 votes from provisional ballots to lead Harris by 173,008 votes to 170,854.

Another round of absentee ballots will be counted at the end of the week.

Elections officials say there are also a small number of provisional ballots they haven’t yet been able to verify. Those could be counted at the same time.

WBAL News has learned Kratovil is scheduled to speak tomorrow afternoon on the Eastern Shore. It will be the first time he has spoken publicly since election night.

Neither candidate has claimed victory or conceded defeat in the tight congressional race.

Examiner

Many Republican voters in Maryland proved wrong political pundits who predicted historic turnouts at the polls this election, staying home and forcing overall turnout lower than 2004 numbers, according to an American University study.

The drop in Republican voters reflects a national trend, but in staunchly Democratic Maryland, it was more severe. The percentage of eligible Republican voters who turned out to the polls fell nationally more than 1 percentage point, but in Maryland, it fell about 5 points and forced the total turnout down from about 61 percent to about 57 percent, according to the study, released this past week by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University in Washington, D.C.

Jim Pelura, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, said some members of the party have become disillusioned because Republican elected officials “have stopped acting like Republicans.”

“There was a general malaise and disappointment and lack of enthusiasm,” he said.

The Maryland GOP plans to check turnout in each county before regrouping under the basic principles of low taxes and small government to try to expand a Republican base in Maryland that conservatives believe is strong.

“We do have to change our program here in Maryland,” Pelura said. “We don’t need to change our basic philosophy, but we need to go and primarily appeal more to young people.”

Support for Sen. John McCain plummeted because his maverick style did not fit well with conservative or moderate Republicans, and in Maryland, conservatives grew even more discouraged because the state often favors Democratic candidates, said Curtis Gans, director of the electorate center.

[...]

The study was based on the unofficial vote count as of late Wednesday as compiled by the Associated Press, and it estimates the total count.

WBAL.com

Six days after the election, the campaign for Maryland’s First Congressional District is still unresolved today, even though the Associated Press declared Democrat Frank Kratovil the winner over the weekend.

The AP reported Friday night that Republican Andy Harris could not over come a 2,000 vote deficit, even though provisional ballots, and another group of absentee ballots, including those of military serving overseas have yet to be counted.

Nearly 4,800 provisional ballots are due to be counted today in the 12 counties in the district.

Kratovil leads Harris in the nine counties on the Eastern Shore. Harris leads in the Western Shore portion of the district, which are portions of Harford, Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties.

Harford County has the most provisional ballots with 800. Wicomico County has the second highest at 730.

Republican sources tell WBAL News that Harris would need more than 60% of the uncounted ballots to overtake Kratovil.