Republicans representing Marylanders for Fair Elections submitted petitions containing more than 40,000 signatures to state officials Tuesday, seeking to block implementation of new voting rights laws and put them on the November ballot.
Tom Roskelly, who heads the group, said, “Early voting per se is not the issue. Early voting without the proper safeguards is the issue.” His goal is to collect more than 110,00 signatures. The signatures must be certified by local boards of elections.
Even if enough signatures are submitted by the deadline next month, the fate of the referendum is in doubt. The attorney general?s office already has issued an opinion saying the laws providing for early voting and other new election rules have already gone into effect. That opinion will likely be tested in court, but it is not clear what role Roskelly?s group or the governor?s office will play in any possible court challenge.
Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed both measures, but his vetoes were overridden by the General Assembly.
Roskelly, a Republican, was recruited by the governor?s staff to head the effort. While he says the petition drive is bipartisan, it is mostly Republicans leading the charge. Ehrlich?s campaign manager Bo Harmon and campaign spokesman Shareese DeLeaver, were both on hand as “interested observers.”
State Sen. Janet Greenip, R-Anne Arundel, said she had probably collected about 500 signatures herself. “I?m trying to maintain the integrity of our voting system,” she said. “Maryland is the only state with early voting that does not require a picture ID,” according to research done by her staff.
Ehrlich has told Republicans attending Lincoln Day dinners in Baltimore County and elsewhere that they were not permitted to leave the fundraiser without signing the petitions.
