Maryland voters cast their ballots using a touchscreen voting system by Diebold Election Systems, Inc. The touchscreen system allows voters to make selections by touching the screen. Voters may review and change selections before casting a ballot. The Diebold voting machines have been critcized because they do not have any kind of paper trail.
Absentee ballots and provisional ballots are paper ballots, which counted by being optically scanned by computers.
- Important 2008 Election Dates
Deadline to change party affiliation before primary: November 19, 2007
Primary Election Day: February, 12, 2008
General Election Day: November 4, 2008
Deadline for registering to vote before the primary: January 22, 2008
Deadline for registering to vote before the November election: October 14, 2008
Deadline to apply for absentee ballot before primary: February 5, 2008
Deadline to apply for absentee ballot before November election: October 28, 2008
Voting in Maryland
To vote in a Maryland election, you must register to vote in Maryland 21 days prior to the general election or primary. Voters cast their ballots at their local polling place, which is listed on the Voter Notification Card they received after registering. If you no longer have this, find your polling place with this polling place locator. Voters who will not be at their polling place on Election Day may vote via a Maryland absentee ballot.
When you arrive at the polls, an election judge will ask your name, then have you sign the rolls. The judge will insert a plastic card in the voting machine and leave you to vote. After you have voted the card will pop out, and you return it to the judge.
Poll Hours and Rules
In Maryland the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you are in line at the polls at 8 p.m., you will be permitted to vote.In Maryland bars and liquor stores remain open on Election Day, and children are permitted inside the voting booth. Voters may bring newspapers or other printed material inside the voting booth.
Voters may write-in candidates in the general election but not the primary. Ask the election judge for instructions if you wish to write in a candidate.
Marylanders may request help in voting from an election judge or may bring someone to assist them in voting. However, the person assisting may not be their employer, an agent of their employer or an officer or agent of their union.
Identification
You do not need to have your voter ID card with you in order to vote. However, it is suggested that you bring some form of identification to the poll in case it is requested by an election judge.
While showing identification at the polling place is not necessary for most voters, some Maryland voters do need to show ID. They include first time voters in Maryland, some who registered to vote by mail and those voters who received a notice from their local board of elections asking for further verification of their voter registration application.
Acceptable ID includes:
- Maryland driver's license number or MVA ID card number or at least the last four digits or your Social Security number. This must be verified through a government agency.
- Current, valid photo ID such as a Maryland driver's license, MVA ID card, student, employee, or military ID card, U.S. passport or other state or federal government ID card.
- Current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows your name and address
Maryland Primaries
Maryland's primary elections are usually closed, meaning that only voters affiliated with a party may vote in that party's primary. So independent voters and voters registered in a party that does not have a primary may not vote in another party's primary. However, in 2000 the Maryland Republican Party held an open primary.The deadline to change from one party to another or to change to or from unaffiliated or independent status is 9 p.m. on the Monday 12 weeks prior to the primary election. This does not apply to voters who have moved from one Maryland jurisdiction to another since the last general election. These voters have until three weeks before the primary.
Maryland's presidential election primaries are held the second Tuesday in February.
