Primary elections in Maryland
Primary elections in Maryland see Maryland citizens vote for State Offices, Federal Offices, County Offices and Party Offices, and also the Democratic Central Committee Members and the Republican Central Committee Members.[1][2]
Voters must declare belonging to (or not belonging to) a political party in order to vote in primary elections. Voters may only vote for candidates from their own party. Voters belonging to the Green party, Libertarian party, independent candidates or do not have a party, do not have the option to vote for offices and can only vote for the board of education of Maryland.
Offices to be elected
The offices that appear in the ballot are the following:
State offices
The states offices will be selected by Republican voters and Democratic voters and they are the following:
Legislative branch
The Maryland General Assembly that is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland will be selected in this election for both, the upper and lower camera:
- Maryland senators: This is the upper hose, and will be elected 47 senators in total, one senator per district, they will replace current Maryland senators in the Maryland Senate.
- House of Delegates: This is the lower house of the legislature, and consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts, that will replace current delegates.
Judicial branch
- Judge of the Circuit Court
- Judges of the Court of Special Appeals - For retention in office. Only on General Election Ballot
- Judges of the Court of Appeals - For retention in office. Only on General Election Ballot
Governor, Lieutenant governor, comptroller and attorney general sections are the same in all the ballots in Maryland's 23 counties,
Federal offices
During the election also will be elected 10 candidates for the legislature of the United States, they will be:
- United States Senator (2 senators, that will replace current 2 Senators) they will be part of the 100 senators that will be working in the upper chamber of the United States Congress.
- Representatives in Congress (8 representatives, one per each of the 8 districts of Maryland), they will replace 8 current Maryland representatives. The 8 Maryland Representatives work in the lower chamber of the United States Congress, and will be part of the 435 representatives nationwide.
County offices
There are two different ballots for each county, one for Republican voters and one for Democrats voters, and the offices to be elected are the following:
- County Executive
- County Council / Commissioner
- County Treasurer
- State’s Attorney
- Clerk of the Circuit Courts
- Register of Wills
- Judges of the Orphan’s Court
- Sheriff
Board of Education
There is one board of education for of each Maryland county:
- Allegany,
- Anne Arundel,
- Baltimore County,
- Baltimore City,
- Calvert,
- Caroline,
- Carroll,
- Cecil,
- Charles,
- Dorchester,
- Frederick,
- Garrett,
- Harford,
- Howard,
- Kent,
- Montgomery,
- Prince George’s,
- Queen Anne’s,
- St. Mary’s,
- Somerset,
- Talbot,
- Washington,
- Wicomico and
- Worcester County
Party offices
- Democratic Central Committee Members
- Republican Central Committee Members
Ballot
The ballot is specific to the address of voters, so there different ballots for each of the counties in Maryland, in fact each county could have more than 50 different Ballots for each of the two parties, since there are different candidates for each zone int the same county, these sample ballots are available on Maryland Website on the 2018 Primary Election Proofing Ballots section.[3]
Each voter will have an assigned ballot that will be according its address, it can be reviewed online in English and Spanish[4] in the State Board of Elections website,[5] where entering the voter first and last name, date of birth and zip code, and the elector will be able to see its options, that are the following:
- Precinct
- Congressional District
- Legislative District
- Councilmanic District
- Circuit Court District
- Appellate circuit court
- Central Committee
- Election District
- School
- And Senatorial district:
Also will be able to see the "My Candidate Information" section with all the options for vote, among other information, and also will be also to see their specific sample ballot as a PDF file in order to take a better selection weeks or months before assisting to vote.
In the voting voting centers clerk will receive voters and according their address will gave them a receipt that will state which of the 8 congressional district is their particular congressional districts (upper camera) and which of the 47 is their particular district in the Maryland House of Delegates (lower camera). They also will be able to find the voting center for each elector.
Requirements to vote
Currently the requirements to vote are to be a citizen and to be registered. Identification Cards are not required. Voters only need tell a polling station worker their address.
Voters can apply to vote before the deadline time that is 21 days before election day.
Early vote
Early vote for primary elections was hold from June 14 to June 21, 2018, after this day early vote will be suspended until Primary election day that will be celebrated on Tuesday June 26, 2018.[3]
In every voting center will be present English and Spanish speaking clerks that will assist electors regarding their questions.
Polling Place
Polling place is specific to each voter according their address, polling place can be looked up on Maryland's State Board of election website, in current election it is accessible from the voting menu and the bottom Polling Place Locator where user is asked to enter its house number or building address, and also its street and zip code.[6]
Turnout
Number of electors in Maryland in 2018 is 3,931,730 and is projected a turnout of around 50% (2,000,000 voters) with an expected abstention of 50% of electors, where half of the electors will choose whom their Governors, Mayors, Judges, Sheriffs and other officials, while the other 50% of electors that will not vote will be governed by officials that they did not elect.
Elections in of Maryland allow Maryland citizens to the select the government that will best serve (or not) to their electors and assure (or not) the respect of human rights, life and properties, Right to health, safety and dignity of the residents of the communities that they serve. The new government will manage Maryland budget that is 43.6 billions per year, and new counties executives that will manage counties budget to be used in effective projects that will serve its communities, and will not allow illegal or criminal activities or business nor will receive bribes, but will denounce and punish those crimes, and will fight organized crime and protect the communities that they were elected to serve. Also the judiciary officials that will assure the correct application of justice, punishing crimes[7] and eradicate impunity, electors will also select school boards that will apply the best of their resources and select the most qualified teachers that will assure the proper education of Maryland students, electors will also responsible of the selections of the best counties sheriff that will assure (or not) their protection and will reduce or eliminate crimes.
See also
- Elections in Maryland
- List of counties in Maryland
- Maryland's congressional districts (8)
- Maryland Senate
- Maryland House of Delegates (141 delegates for 47 districts)
- United States circuit court
- Maryland Circuit Courts
- List of current members of the Maryland House of Delegates
- List of current members of the Maryland Senate
- Maryland state budget
- List of Districts in the Maryland House of Delegates
Current elections
- Maryland gubernatorial election, 2018
- United States Senate election in Maryland, 2018
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
References
- Elections, Maryland State Board of. "Primary Elections". elections.maryland.gov.
- Elections, Maryland State Board of. "Offices to appear on the ballot". elections.maryland.gov.
- Elections, Maryland State Board zof. "2018 Gubernatorial Election". elections.maryland.gov.
- https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/VoterSearch
- https://www.elections.maryland.gov/
- https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/PollingPlaceSearch
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/investigations/where-murders-go-unsolved/