Oerdin goes over his mail in ballots.

[Aeson]

I voted with my feet. I’m no longer a resident of any US state.

[Berzerker]

California leads the way on many issues and the ability of voters to write the law via referendum and ballot initiative is a big reason why. Legislatures that dont want the people having that power need a good reason.

[Dinner]

It also gets abused by special interests though so it is a double edged sword.

[spambot]

California leads the way on many issues and the ability of voters to write the law via referendum and ballot initiative is a big reason why. Legislatures that dont want the people having that power need a good reason.

Well, if they want a good reason, all they have to do is point at the circus that is California.

[Dinner]

Much of that is propaganda or never actually happens. See stuff like the Republican attempt to break up the state along extremely silly partisan lines. The courts tossed that out as it very clearly violated the state constitution.

[Lorizael]

Alright, I've made my decisions. One easy but kind of ****ty thing about living in PG county, MD is that a lot of local positions (sheriff, county executive) are literally decided in the Democratic primary, because the Republican Party doesn't even bother to nominate opposing candidates. Alas.

[rah]

Kind of the same in Chicago except when some Nazi sneaks onto the ballot because no one was paying attention.

[pchang]

So, pay attention and be sure to vote in the primaries.

[Dinner]

pchang many states they have closed primaries.

[pchang]

So change parties to remain relevant. Party declaration does not prevent you from voting for who you want or donating to who you want.

[Dinner]

That is a possibility as long as people plan ahead.

[pchang]

That goes with the pay attention part.

[pchang]

As for the judges, you could make Kid’s head explode by voting yes for all the women and no for all the men.

[ColdWizard]

No one wants to discuss the California ballots?

I'm glad I only have 3 candidates for senate, 2 for house, and 2 county issues to vote on. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, I find the house candidates equally odious.

[Dinner]

People should tell us about their ballots. I am thinking about making an election guess thread where people would guess how many senators and house members from each party (independents who caucus with one party would be counted for that party) there will be. We could use number of governors as a tie breaker.

[Dinner]

People should tell us about their ballots. I am thinking about making an election guess thread where people would guess how many senators and house members from each party (independents who caucus with one party would be counted for that party) there will be. We could use number of governors as a tie breaker.

[Lorizael]

Alright, here's Maryland. I'm only going through the interesting-ish bits of the ballot.

Governor
Larry Hogan (R, inc)
Ben Jealous (D)
Shawn Quinn (L)
Ian Schlakman (G)

Hogan is widely expected to win reelection, because super blue Maryland has a tendency to elect Republican governors for some reason. Hogan has painted himself as a moderate--intentionally distancing himself from Trump--but he's vetoed a lot and sometimes takes credit for things he just allows the Democratic legislature to do. He's been alright as a governor but Maryland is lagging behind its neighbors in terms of economic growth (jobs, wages). Jealous has never held office before, but he's been involved with politics and activism for a long time as the former head of the NAACP. He's a Bernie guy and shares a lot of Bernie's pie in the sky, how would we ever pay for that ideas. The libertarian, Shawn Quinn, wants to lower taxes. The Green party candidate, Schlakman, wants to raise them.


Comptroller
Anjali Reed Phukan (R)
Peter Franchot (D, inc)

Franchot is a veteran MD Democrat and has been comptroller for 12 years. People seem relatively pleased with his tenure and he isn't campaigning on much more than "yeah, I'm gonna keep doing this." The challenger, Phukan is a CPA who's billing herself as something of a math nerd. She seems a little kooky but at the same time she's young and might bring a fresh perspective.


Attorney General
Craig Wolf (R)
Peter Frosh (D, inc)

Frosh's rhetoric is about making the justice system more progressive, with efforts to punish polluters, reduce recidivism, all that. But he's also one of the Democratic attorneys general who's big on suing Trump's administration for various things. The challenger, Wolf, is a tough on crime prosecutor who mostly wants to get back to punishing bad guys and steer clear of political stuff.


US Senator
Tony Campbell (R)
Ben Cardin (D, inc)

Tony Campbell is a Republican eyeing for a seat in Congress. Republicans must be rebuked for allowing/supporting Trump and don't deserve a seat at the national table right now. Ben Cardin is the incumbent Democrat, and he's going to keep his seat.


US Representative District 5
William Devine (R)
Steny Hoyer (D, inc)

William Devine is a Republican eyeing for a seat in Congress. Republicans must be rebuked for allowing/supporting Trump and don't deserve a seat at the national table right now. Steny Hoyer is the incumbent Democrat, and he's going to keep his seat.


State Senator District 22
Paul Pinsky (D, inc)
Lauren Drew (L)

Pinsky is an old due going for his 5th term in the Maryland State Senate. He's very Democraty. Drew is a lawyer working for a non-profit. She's socially progressive but wants less government overall (think Felch) and seems to have some very thoughtful views on a lot of issues.


House of Delegates District 22
Winnie Obike (R)
Tawanna Gaines (D, inc)
Anne Healey (D, inc)
Alonzo Washington (D, inc)

District 22 has 3 seats, currently filled by those Democrats. The one Republican, who ran unopposed, isn't going to unseat any of them.


County Executive
Angela Alsobrooks (D)

She's running unopposed and doesn't need my vote.


County Council At Large
Felicia Folarin (R)
Mel Franklin (D)
Calvin Hawkins (D)

PG county recently created two at-large council seats to, apparently, give term-limited members a way to stay on. The Republican isn't going to win. Franklin is one such member trying to stay on the Council. He's also a drunk who's been in multiple accidents. Hawkins had a #metoo moment awhile back that people are trying to ignore for some reason.


County Council District 4
Todd Turner (D, inc)

Oh look, a Democrat running unopposed in the general.


Judge of the Circuit Court - 6 judges that have to be reelected. None of them seem to have any controversies? People are in favor of reelecting the whole lot of them.

Judge, Court of Special Appeals At Large - 2 judges seeking "continuance in office."

Judge, Court of Special Appeals (C4) - 1 judge seeking continuance.

State's Attorney, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Register of Wills - Unopposed Democrats.

Judge of the Orphans' Court - 3 Democrats seeking to remain.

Sheriff - Unopposed Dem.


Board of Education
Lupi Grady (inc)
Joshua Thomas

Thomas is a 20-something kid who did Teach For America. Seems smart, but his main idea is reducing overcrowding. Word is that Grady knows her stuff and is sensitive to the needs of the community.


Question 1
Maryland State Constitutional Amendment
Requiring Commercial Gaming Revenues that are for Public Education to Supplement Spending for Education in Public Schools

Maryland amended its constitution awhile back to allow gambling so long as that gambling revenue was put into education. But they weren't careful about the wording, with the end result being that the legislature and governor would raid the education budget to fund other projects and make up for the deficit with gambling funds. So education funding stayed the same. This amendment puts the gambling revenue into a "lockbox" (ugh) that ensures it supplements rather than replaces current funding. In general, I am not a fan of overly specific constitutions, but I guess this is a horse has left the barn situation and it makes sense to make sure the amendment they put in place is doing what they intended.


Question 2
Maryland State Constitutional Amendment
Same-Day Registration and Voting at the Precinct Polling Place on Election Day

We should make it as easy as possible to attain and employ the franchise.


Questions A-E
Prince George's County Charter Referenda

For some reason the PG County Council can authorize spending for capital projects but must go to the voters for approval of the bonds to finance those projects. A-E are to authorize bonds for public works, libraries, public safety, county buildings, and community college facilities. You can dig in a little and find out what the specific projects are, which I did because I was wary of authorizing borrowing for the incredibly vague "county buildings." But it looks like there are legit uses for most of this money (on the order of $400 million across all the questions).


Questions F-K
Prince George's County Charter Amendments

These are amendments to the county charter suggested by our Charter Review Commission. F is a 1-year residency requirement for council members. Seems appropriate. G makes the non-discrimination policy for contractors and personnel a little more inclusive. Yay. H clarifies that serving on the council is a "full-time position" as far as compensation. My understanding is that their duties on the council don't really take up all their time, so that seems sketchy. I gives some power and independence to the County Auditor (5-year term rather than serving "at the council's pleasure"). Cool. J ensure that temporary appointments to vacant positions can only be there for a year and then need to be filled permanently. Rad. K wants to make this Charter Review Commission thing a more regular process, which seems like a good idea. Maybe we should have that for the US Constitution, too.

Ugh, I did it all. **** you, Oerdin.