Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB838 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	sb0838
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 838
8	8	G1 5lr3465
9	9
10	10	By: Senators Mautz, Bailey, Carozza, Hershey, Jennings, and Ready
11	11	Introduced and read first time: January 28, 2025
12	12	Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Election Law – Absentee Ballots – Signature Requirements and Verification 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of prohibiting a local board of elections from removing an absentee ballot 3
21	21	from a return envelope or ballot/return envelope or counting the ballot unless the 4
22	22	return envelope or ballot/return envelope is signed by the voter and, except under 5
23	23	certain circumstances, a witness and the local board verify the voter’s signature; and 6
24	24	generally relating to absentee ballots. 7
25	25
26	26	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 8
27	27	Article – Election Law 9
28	28	Section 9–303 and 9–310(a)(5) and (c) 10
29	29	Annotated Code of Maryland 11
30	30	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 12
31	31
32	32	BY adding to 13
33	33	Article – Election Law 14
34	34	Section 9–310.1 15
35	35	Annotated Code of Maryland 16
36	36	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 17
37	37
38	38	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 18
39	39	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 19
40	40
41	41	Article – Election Law 20
42	42
43	43	9–303. 21
44	44
45	45	(a) The State Board shall establish guidelines for the administration of absentee 22
46	46	voting by the local boards. 23
47	47
48	48	(b) The guidelines shall provide for: 24 2 SENATE BILL 838
49	49
50	50
51	51
52	52	(1) the application process; 1
53	53
54	54	(2) late application for absentee ballots; 2
55	55
56	56	(3) ballot security, including storage of returned ballots; 3
57	57
58	58	(4) determining timeliness of receipt of applications and ballots, including 4
59	59	applications and ballots for overseas voters; 5
60	60
61	61	(5) the canvass process; 6
62	62
63	63	(6) notice of the canvass to candidates, political parties, campaign 7
64	64	organizations, news media, and the general public; 8
65	65
66	66	(7) observers of the process; 9
67	67
68	68	(8) review of voted ballots and envelopes for compliance with the law and 10
69	69	for machine tabulation acceptability; 11
70	70
71	71	(9) standards for disallowance of ballots during the canvass; 12
72	72
73	73	(10) storage and retention of ballots following canvass and certification; 13
74	74	[and] 14
75	75
76	76	(11) the permanent absentee ballot list; AND 15
77	77
78	78	(12) VERIFICATION OF SIGN ATURES ON ABSENTEE B ALLOT 16
79	79	ENVELOPES . 17
80	80
81	81	(c) The State Board shall: 18
82	82
83	83	(1) in consultation with the local boards, assess the guidelines before each 19
84	84	primary election; and 20
85	85
86	86	(2) revise the guidelines if indicated. 21
87	87
88	88	9–310. 22
89	89
90	90	(a) (5) When voted and returned to the local board, an absentee ballot shall be 23
91	91	enclosed in a ballot envelope or ballot/return envelope, on which has been printed [an oath] 24
92	92	OATHS prescribed by the State Board. 25
93	93
94	94	(c) If an absentee ballot is sent by the Internet or facsimile transmission, the local 26
95	95	board shall provide the voter with an envelope template, the [oath] OATHS prescribed by 27
96	96	the State Board, and instructions for marking and returning the absentee ballot. 28 SENATE BILL 838 3
97	97
98	98
99	99
100	100	9–310.1. 1
101	101
102	102	(A) IN THIS SECTION, “UNIFORMED SERVICES ” HAS THE MEANING STAT ED 2
103	103	IN 10 U.S.C. § 101. 3
104	104
105	105	(B) A LOCAL BOARD MAY NOT REMOVE AN ABSENTEE B ALLOT FROM THE 4
106	106	RETURN ENVELOPE OR B ALLOT/RETURN ENVELOPE OR C OUNT THE BALLOT 5
107	107	UNLESS: 6
108	108
109	109	(1) THE RETURN ENVELOPE OR BALLOT/RETURN ENVELOPE IS 7
110	110	SIGNED BY: 8
111	111
112	112	(I) THE VOTER TO WHOM TH E BALLOT WAS ISSUED ; AND 9
113	113
114	114	(II) EXCEPT AS PROVIDED I N SUBSECTION (C) OF THIS SECTION, 10
115	115	A WITNESS OTHER THAN THE VOTER TO WHOM TH E BALLOT WAS ISSUED ; AND 11
116	116
117	117	(2) THE VOTER ’S SIGNATURE IS VERIF IED AS PROVIDED IN 12
118	118	SUBSECTION (D) OF THIS SECTION. 13
119	119
120	120	(C) THE WITNESS SIGNATURE REQUIREMENT UNDER SU BSECTION (B)(1)(II) 14
121	121	OF THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO AN ABSE NTEE BALLOT THAT IS VOTED AND 15
122	122	RETURNED BY : 16
123	123
124	124	(1) AN ACTIVE DUTY MEMBE R OF THE UNIFORMED S ERVICES WHO IS 17
125	125	SERVING OVERSEAS ; OR 18
126	126
127	127	(2) THE SPOUSE OR DEPEND ENT OF AN ACTIVE DUT Y MEMBER OF THE 19
128	128	UNIFORMED SERVICES W HO IS SERVING OVERSE AS IF THE SPOUSE OR DEPENDENT 20
129	129	LIVES OVERSEAS . 21
130	130
131	131	(D) EACH LOCAL BOARD SHAL L VERIFY THE SIGNATU RE OF THE VOTER ON 22
132	132	THE RETURN ENVELOPE OR BALLOT /RETURN ENVELOPE BY C OMPARING THE 23
133	133	SIGNATURE WITH THE V OTER’S REGISTRATION RECOR D IN ACCORDANCE WITH 24
134	134	REGULATIONS ADOPTED BY THE STATE BOARD. 25
135	135
136	136	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 26
137	137	October 1, 2025. 27
138	138
139	139