Maryland Officials Can Count Mail-In Ballot Before Election Day: Judge
Mail-in ballots can be counted before Election Day, a judge in Maryland has ruled.
Maryland law states that officials can not start tabulating mail-in ballots until “8 a.m. on the Wednesday following election day.” But waiting that long would mean results could not be verified within 10 days after an election, as required by another law, Maryland Circuit Judge James Bonifant wrote in an 11-page ruling on Sept. 23.
Bonifant granted a request from the Maryland State Board of Elections, which claimed that a one-time suspension of the former law was required because of “emergency circumstances.”
Counting of mail-in ballots after primary elections earlier this year led to delayed election certifications, and without the ability to start counting absentee ballots before Election Day, local, statewide, and federal contests might not be certified until late December or January 2023, the board said in a statement in August as it filed a petition with the court.
State Del. Dan Cox, a Republican who is running for governor, intervened in the case. He said that the state’s request should not be granted because no emergency exists.
Bonifant acknowledged that the situation was foreseen by state legislators, who passed a bill that would enable officials to count mail-in ballots before Election Day. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the bill.
The judge said that “the full extent of the difficult situation caused by so many mail-in ballots did not materialize until the primary election occurred this past summer,” necessitating the ruling.
“This Court does not believe it is violating the State Constitution by granting the State Board’s requested relief. To the contrary, the Court believes it is exercising the powers granted to it under the Constitution to decide a case between competing parties who have different views on the interpretation of the law,” he concluded.
Cox’s campaign did
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