The Carroll County Board of Elections has time before it finds out if the Maryland General Assemby passes local legislation regarding electioneering distance at polling places, an additional early voting location and the structure of the board.
But in order for their proposals to get passed by the full legislature, the Carroll County House and Senate delegations must introduce the bills in each of their respective chambers. The Carroll House delegation, which has four members, has already introduced all three bills while the Senate delegation, which has three members, has only submitted one bill.
Here's a breakdown of each of the bills developed by the board of elections:
Electioneering boundaries
Electioneering boundaries are set to ensure voters are not negatively impacted by a person or persons pushing forward an agenda while they are going to the polls to vote.
Carroll County had set its electioneering boundary at 100 feet from the entrance and exit of a polling place. But during the 2011 legislative session, Carroll had inadvertently been part of a Montgomery County bill which shortened the electioneering boundary to 25 feet, said Gail Carter, election director for Carroll County. The bill passed on the last day of the 2011 session and Carroll's electioneering boundary was shortened, she said.
The enabling legislation gives the board of elections the option to move its electioneering boundaries down to 25 feet or keep it at 100 feet. The Carroll Board of Elections, Carter said, has already chosen to leave the boundaries at 100 feet. The board wants legislation which will keep the boundaries at 100 feet, she said.
People with political campaigns and causes are too close to voters at 25 feet, said Gail Riley, president of the board of elections.
"The board feels that when people go to vote, most of them know who they are going to vote for and they really are not there to be bothered by anybody else," Riley said.
"We have a lot of complaints every election about the electioneering and candidates actually bothering the voters," Carter said.
The house delegation has submitted the bill, HB 138, and the Senate delegation wanted to view the house delegation's bill before it moved forward with its own legislation.
Board membership
Instead of having three full-time and two substitutes, the Carroll Board of Elections wants to change its structure to five full-time members.
Changing the structure of the board, Riley said, is about making things equitable. The two substitute members already attend all the meetings and go to voter outreach events. With the exception of voting, the substitute members do everything that the full-time members do, Riley said.
Having two more full-time members would cost the county an additional $3,800 a year, Riley said.
Making the substitute members full-time, Carter said, is the trend for other boards of elections throughout the state. If approved by the legislature, the new five-member board of elections would begin serving in June 2015.
The house and senate delegations have submitted bills, HB 135 and SB 663, which increases the board of elections' membership.
Additional early voting location
The Board of Elections wants to have an additional early voting site at the South Carroll Senior and Community Center in Sykesville following the success of its first one in 2010.
The first early voting site, which was chosen by the General Assembly, was at the Westminster Senior and Community Center. Following the 2010 general election, Carter said she thought the southern portion of the county would be served by having its own early voting polling place. Carter estimated the new polling place would reach 30,000 Carroll residents.
An extra early voting location, Carter said, would alleviate congestion at the polls which is expected during the upcoming presidential election.
It will cost the county $20,000 to have another early site for both the primary and general elections, Carter said. The cost comes from having to staff extra election judges and transporting the equipment.
A statewide referendum passed in 2008 allows counties to have one, three or five early voting sites, based on the counties' number of registered voters. In order for a county to have more than one early voting location, it must have more than 150,000 registered voters. Since Carroll only has 112,000 registered voters, the legislation would make the county exempt from the requirment, Carter said.
The house delegation has submitted the bill, HB 139, and the senate delegation wanted to view the house delegation's bill before it moved forward.
