ANNAPOLIS — Just four days before the Maryland State Board of Elections is to begin counting early mail-in ballots, Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox filed another effort to halt the board’s plan to certify the Nov. 8 elections earlier.
In response to Cox’s request, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals released an order Tuesday afternoon that said the court would hear his appeal, and gave him until Wednesday to file supporting documents. The order said the board of elections must file a response to Cox’s appeal no later than Thursday afternoon.
If the judge does not grant Cox’s appeal this week, counting of early mail-in ballots will not be halted.
Cox lost a previous effort to stop early counting of the ballots last week when the Montgomery County Circuit Court approved a board of elections emergency petition to allow counting of early mail-in votes, which are scheduled to begin Oct. 1.
The board filed the petition last month, and stated that by not allowing early counting of mail-in votes, the results might not be certified until late December or early January 2023.
Election officials said in their petition for the change they needed the new counting rules “to ensure that all critical election-related deadlines established by law are met.”
In the July primaries, more than 345,000 mail-in ballots were cast. As of last week, more than 525,000 Maryland voters asked for a mail-in ballot, said Nikki Charlson, the board of elections’ deputy administrator.
Ed Hartman, the Cox attorney who filed the appeal, said Judge James Bonifant’s ruling is unconstitutional, because the decision to change the election process should not be left to the judiciary – an action against the Maryland Constitution. He said this decision should be left solely to the Maryland General Assembly.
“It is not the province of the judiciary to begin changing the electoral process, and we believe that is what this ruling does,” Hartman said. “So we disagree. We respect Judge Bonifant, but we disagree with his ruling.”
Cox’s attorneys made the same argument before Bonifant last week.
Hartman said his team wants a proper review by the Court of Special Appeals, and he hopes the court will rule before Oct. 1.
“By Saturday they’ll begin opening the ballots – again, which is against the law – and it’ll be moot at that point, because once they’re opened, the proverbial horse has left the barn,” Hartman said.
If the court decides to grant Cox’s request, counting of ballots would begin on the Thursday after election day.
Nikki Tyree, executive director for the League of Women Voters of Maryland, said the process would put a larger burden on the election workers who count the ballots, which could take days and even weeks.
Tyree said that many elected officials get sworn in by early December, and if elections are contested or if there is a runoff, that does not allow enough time for poll workers to count ballots.
Dragging the counting process out would create “a breeding ground for misinformation,” she said.
For more information about the Maryland general election, check out the CNS 2022 General Election Guide.