Media Center

Late Wednesday, Black voters and civil rights organizations filed papers urging United Sates District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby to issue an injunction overturning Baltimore County’s racially discriminatory redistricting plan and requiring the County to reconfigure its election system in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

The Howard County Council will hold a public hearing tonight on legislation to fix a provision that is blocking Fair Elections funding for at least one candidate who wishes to participate in the program and qualifies for matching funds.

The County has been unwilling to distribute funds to participating candidates who have qualified for matching funds.

Common Cause MD and other organizations are calling on both the Senate and House of Delegates to improve their COVID-19 public-access protocols - and to make them permanent.

If the County Council passes the resolution, this will put the question of creating a Fair Elections Fund on the ballot for public vote in the November 2022 Election.

“Throughout this year’s redistricting process, we and residents across Baltimore County called on Council members to follow the law and put the people above politics. Instead, they chose to ignore the law at the expense of free and fair elections. The county’s voting districts don’t belong to politicians, they belong to the people. The people, specifically Black voters, have a right to have a voice in choosing their representatives and should not have to live a decade under an illegal map.”