2025 Legislative Review (PDF)

This legislative session, Common Cause Maryland worked around the clock to champion legislation that would build a more accessible and inclusive democracy.   

Thanks to our efforts, we successfully secured several important wins for Maryland voters, including legislation to increase language accessibility at the ballot box, strengthen the post-election audit process after each statewide election to ensure secure elections, and increase transparency requirements for scam political action committees (PACs).  

While we’re proud of these important wins, we know there’s still a lot of work to be done, including passing the full Maryland Voting Rights Act to protect Maryland voters from ongoing federal attacks on the freedom to vote. We’re thankful for the legislators who championed our pro-democracy reforms and look forward to working with them next session.  

Learn more about our priorities and which bills passed into law below. To view a full list of all the bills we advocated for this session, check out our legislative tracker here.  

x Passed  o Failed

Voting and Elections 

x Language Assistance – This bill provides expanded language assistance to communities of voters who speak limited English or simply prefer to vote in the language they are most comfortable speaking. Now, most election-related materials will be translated into multiple languages, and secure virtual oral language assistance services will be available at polling places in certain jurisdictions across the state, helping to ensure that no eligible voter is left behind at the ballot box. This reform was part of the larger Maryland Voting Rights Act (MDVRA) package of bills. SB 685, HB 983 (Sen. Augustine, Del. Mireku-North) 

x Risk-Limiting Audits – This bill requires local boards of elections, in collaboration with the State Board of Elections, to use “the gold standard” for post-election ballot audits in an era when our election systems face unprecedented domestic and international threats.  Post-election audits are highly effective methods to ensure correct election results and increase public trust in elections. Maryland has now joined a growing number of states that have moved to RLAs to better secure our elections. SB 313, HB 426 (Sen. M. Washington, Del. Kaiser) 

o Special Elections for Legislative Vacancies – This bill would have amended the state Constitution to require special elections when a seat is vacated by a member of the Maryland General Assembly on or before the date that is 55 days from the candidate filing deadline. 85% of Marylanders favor special elections to fill legislative vacancies. This would have ensured that voters get to exercise one of our most fundamental constitutional rights: the right to select the elected officials who represent them.  SB 2, HB 174 (Sen. Kagan, Del. Foley) 

o Voting Access for Incarcerated and Returning Citizens – We continue to work in coalition to ensure returning citizens and eligible incarcerated citizens are aware of their right to vote and have meaningful access to voting and voting information. We are also committed to re-enfranchising the over 16,000 Marylanders who are banned from voting while serving a prison or jail term for a felony conviction. These overwhelmingly Black voters deserve equal access to the ballot box. The bills below reflect these goals. Learn more about why we must restore the right to vote.

• AVR Expansion – This bill would have made the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services a designated agency in our automatic voter registration program, ensuring citizens released from our state prison know their right to vote has been restored while providing the opportunity to register to vote as they leave. HB 1110 (Del. Wilkins) 

• Voting Rights for All Act – This bill would have ended felony disenfranchisement in Maryland, restoring the right to vote to citizens who are currently incarcerated and convicted of a felony. Felony disenfranchisement restrictions have been a part of U.S. law since the beginning of our nation. These laws are antiquated and have a disgraceful past. They not only have a disproportionate impact on communities of color and low-income communities, but they also have no criminal deterrent or rehabilitative value.  Maryland is well-positioned to eliminate the process by which an individual convicted of a felony loses the right to vote. SB 674, HB 710 (Sen. Muse, Del. Wilkins)   

o Enhanced Automatic Voter Registration – Thousands of eligible Marylanders have registered to vote or updated their registration through our Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) program, increasing the number of eligible voters who regularly receive information about our elections. This bill would have built on the success of the program with an update to streamline our AVR process, removing unnecessary steps for registration and decreasing the number of eligible voters who unintentionally decline registration while engaging with agencies like the Motor Vehicle Administration. Learn more about upgrading to gold-standard enhanced AVR. HB 1113 (Del. Feldmark)  

Fair Representation 

o Maryland Voting Rights Act Package– The Maryland Voting Rights Act (MDVRA) would have codified several aspects of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) with enhancements specifically tailored to protect all eligible Maryland voters. The MDVRA seeks to avoid costly litigation and save both local governments and taxpayers time and money. Based on the legislature’s feedback from last year, we made a strategic decision to split each provision into a separate bill. This new strategy was a success, as we saw the language assistance bill passed and the prohibition against vote dilution/denial was voted out of the Senate. Learn more about the MDVRA.

• Voter Suppression and Vote Dilution – This bill would have explicitly prohibited racial vote dilution and denial within Maryland law. Racial vote dilution happens when an election system or other policy denies voters of color an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. This legislation would have provided clear guidance to plaintiffs, lawyers, and courts on how to prove a method of election dilutes a minority groups’ voting power. It would have also enabled either voters or the Attorney General to challenge violations in court. HB 1043 (Del. Smith) 

• Counties and Municipal Corporations – This bill was a direct response to issues with Baltimore County’s 2021 redistricting cycle. Similar to HB 1043, this legislation would have created a new prohibition against vote dilution and denial within the state. SB 342 (Sen. Sydnor) 

• Preclearance and Voter Intimidation and Obstruction – This bill would have required important voting changes, such as new redistricting plans or changes in requirements to vote, to be approved before going into effect in jurisdictions that have a history of voter discrimination. HB 1044 (Del. Smith) 

Money and Influence  

x Stop Scam PACs Act – This bill establishes increased transparency requirements for scam political action committees, mandating additional disclosures to potential donors about who and what the money is being used for. It also empowers the State Board of Elections to take steps to protect Marylanders from scam PACs and provides new tools for the relevant bodies to investigate and prevent any further wrongdoing. SB 633, HB 906 (Sen. Kagan, Del. Palakovich Carr) 

o Expansion of Public Campaign Financing to Additional Local Offices – These bills would have allowed the expansion of small dollar public campaign finance programs already functioning in many counties to other offices, including State’s Attorney, Sheriff, Register of Wills, Judge of the Circuit Court, Judge of the Orphan’s Court, and elected members of the county Board of Education. Campaign finance programs uplift the voices of regular Marylanders and empower those who may not have connections to deep-pocketed special interests. HB 550 (Del. Feldmark) 

Transparency and Accountability  

x Open Meetings Requirements (Local Boards of Elections Transparency Act) – This legislation requires local Boards of Elections to make their meeting agendas and materials available online in advance of the scheduled meeting time, mandates that all meetings be synchronously live-streamed to the public, and ensures that all materials and live-streams are recorded and archived in a publicly available place promptly once a meeting has adjourned. SB 337, HB 412 (Sen. Kagan, Del. Korman) 

x Defeated Legislation that would Limit Access to Public Records- We worked in coalition to defeat two bills that would have limited access to public records through the Public Information Act (PIA). One bill would have given owners of records the authority to deny public record requests if they were seen as pertaining to “pending or reasonably anticipated” litigation. The other would allow owners of records to be unresponsive or to respond to a less burdensome version of the request if the PIA Compliance Board found the applicant’s request or pattern of requests is “frivolous, vexatious, or in bad faith” when, according to the PIA Ombudsman, only about 1% of their caseload concern “vexatious” requests. The coalition hopes to work with the Office of the Attorney General to introduce an amended version of the frivolous, vexatious, or abusive requests bill.  SB 554, HB 806, and SB 555, HB 821 (Office of the Attorney General) 

x Conflicts of Interest and Blind Trust for the Office of the Governor – The passage of this bill will help to prevent ethical lapses and give the public confidence in our Governor. It requires that once elected, a Governor must place certain interests in a blind trust or divest private assets and holdings to completely avoid any possibility of a conflict of interest. It also requires disclosure of any interest in these businesses and a nonparticipation agreement with the Maryland Ethics Commission. SB 723, HB 932 (Sen. Feldman, Del. Korman) 

x Public Access Ombudsman’s Delegation of Powers – Passage of this bill gives the Maryland Public Access Ombudsman who helps requesters and records custodians/agencies resolve disputes arising from requests made under the Maryland Public Information Act (PIA) the authority to delegate any powers and duties already granted to the Ombudsman to a staff member in the office. This change will ensure the Office of Public Access is more efficient as it resolves a rising number of cases. SB 296, HB 331 (Sen. Augustine, Del. White Holland) 

Other Initiatives  

x  Averted Dangerous Calls for a Constitutional Convention – We stopped efforts for a constitutional convention, which would have placed every constitutional right and protection currently available to American citizens in jeopardy. 

o Prohibition on Dissemination of Deepfakes Used to Influence Voters- This bill would have classified AI-generated materials created to influence a voter’s decision in an election as fraud. Disinformation is already a threat to democracy, and the use of synthetic media within our election system only builds on that danger. It is critical that the Maryland General Assembly respond promptly to this new technology to protect voters from the harms of deepfakes and the overall integrity of our elections. SB 361, HB 525 (Sen. Hester, Del. Feldmark) 

x Progress on Protecting Immigrant Communities – We joined CASA and partners in supporting three critical reforms that would put critical protections in place for Maryland families. The passage of the Sensitive Locations Act (SB 828, Sen. Smith) ensures the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can no longer enter places like schools and courthouses without a warrant. It also requires state agencies to create regulations around data sharing. 

• The General Assembly failed to pass the Maryland Data Privacy Act (SB 977, HB 1431 – Sen. Lam, Del. Charkoudian), which would have created regulations around data sharing, including municipal voter registration data, which, in some jurisdictions, includes noncitizens who are eligible to vote only in those local government elections.
• Partners led extensive advocacy down to the very last hour of session. Still, the Senate chose not to pass the Maryland Values Act (HB 1222, Del. Williams), which would have ended agreements that allow local law enforcement to act as ICE agents. Learn more about efforts to protect immigrant families.