If you watched my new candidate filing videos yesterday for Carroll County and Howard County you could possibly tell I was anticipating the filing deadlines for candidates to be extended past February 22nd. Later in the day the Court of Appeals of Maryland did exactly that…move the dates due to all of the ongoing gerrymandering court cases.
Here is a look at the new dates for candidates this election cycle:
- Filing deadline moved from Feb 22nd to Mar 22nd
- Deadline to withdraw a certificate of candidacy moved from Mar 4th to Mar 24th
- Deadline to fill a vacancy in candidacy for a primary election from Mar 8th to Mar 28th
- Deadline to to challenge a candidate’s residency from Mar 9th to Mar 29th
Here is the Order from The Court of Appeals of Maryland: In_the_Matter_of_2022_Legislative_Districting_Consolidation_Order
Here is confirmation from the Carroll County Board of Elections:
Here is additional information from Maryland Matters on the topic:
Court of Appeals Extends Candidate Filing Deadline Amid Challenges to Legislative Map
I learned about this change from an email from Fair Maps Maryland:
ANNAPOLIS, MD (February 11, 2022)—Fair Maps Maryland today released the following statement from spokesman Doug Mayer in response to the Maryland Court of Appeals extension of the state’s official candidate filing deadline from February 22, 2022 to March 22, 2022. This extension comes one day after Fair Maps Maryland announced a petition filed in the Maryland Court of Appeals challenging the constitutionality and legality of the state’s new legislative redistricting map which was passed by the General Assembly last month.
“The leadership of the Maryland General Assembly might not take the dangers of gerrymandering seriously, but the Court of Appeals does—and that spells trouble for the entrenched Annapolis powerbrokers. Today’s announcement is a clear sign that our legal challenges will be heard in the coming weeks and that free and fair elections could soon be a reality in Maryland.
“Marylanders are sick and tired of being told that there is nothing wrong or unusual about their electoral districts when their own eyes tell a very different story. There is only so much political subterfuge that voters will stand for, and now the state’s highest court is going to test the legal limits of this decades-long deception.”
Also on this topic…I received notification on February 10th that a new lawsuit regrading 2022 legislative redistricting had been filed by Brenda Thiam (Delegate in District 2B), Wayne Hartman (Delegate in District 38C) and Patricia Shoemaker (resident in District 5).
Read the lawsuit here: Petition filed
Note: Similar to Patricia Shoemaker, I currently reside in District 5 and under the new plan would be moved to District 42C.
So candidates that have been on the fence about running in 2022 now have a little more time to decide as the lawsuits work their way through the court system.
No word on the changing of the Primary dates. The current dates are the following:
Primary Election – June 28, 2022, 7 am until 8 pm
Early Voting for the Primary Election – Thursday, June 16, 2022 through Thursday, June 23, 2022 from 7 am until 8 pm.
As for my plans with the Blog…I will have an announcement this weekend. The plan was to retire / discontinue the Blog on February 24th. This would have given me time to document all candidates running for office on February 23rd (after the previous filing deadline) and a final post on the 24th. I am working on my new plan and I plan to have an announcement on Sunday the 13th.
Stay tuned.
Scott E
