Stop Voter Suppression in Maryland - It Could Save Your Political Career

Written Testimony in reference to HB 493 – The Referendum Integrity Act

Madam Chair, members of the committee, I am here today to testify against the passage of House Bill 493, the Referendum Integrity Act.  I could spend an hour before you to discuss the unconstitutionality of the Act and the destructive changes to an already difficult petition process, but there are plenty of other people who will speak more eloquently about these quantitative issues, instead I will focus on the political ramifications of this action.

We all know that this attempt to change the Constitutional right for the people to have a say in their representative government comes from the current Governor.  The Governor, fresh off of his narrow victories on Questions 6 and 7 last November, made the following comment, “I think we have been best served in our state in the over 200 years or more of our history, by a  representative democracy rather than plebiscites.”  In other words, the poor, unwashed masses should have no say in the laws that are passed by their more enlightened leaders.

However, because of the number of signatures are mandated in the Constitution of the State of Maryland, the Governor could not raise the threshold of 3% of registered voters of 55,736 signatures in 2012 without a constitutional amendment, instead this bill was written to attack the process that facilitated the petition effort, MDPetitions.com.  

Here is why I feel it is in your best interest to let this bill die in this committee:

1)      It limits the opportunity of your constituents to address a policy problem in the future.  Not too long ago, Maryland had a Republican Governor.  If you make these restrictive changes to the petition process, it will take away one very important check and balance that the people have that may adversely impact issues that are important to progressives.

2)      It puts you on record as taking away the Constitutional rights of the citizens of the State of Maryland.  We may agree or disagree on whether or not certain issues should have been petitioned, however, a vote to take away the people’s right to have a say in their government can be used as a campaign issue that people will understand when you run for re-election in 2014 and could be used by either your challenger in the primary or the other party’s nominee in the general election.  This issue is not the same as gun control or even same-sex marriage; this bill deals with a fundamental Constitutional right, not a Civil Right. 

Connected with my last point is this political reality, the Governor does not have to stand before the voters of Maryland in 2014, YOU do!  All three ballot initiatives made a lot of noise in 2012 but the people of Maryland chose to accept all three of the laws as passed by the legislature.  Is the passing of the Governor’s agenda worth taking a gamble in jeopardizing your political career?  There are plenty of other battles that are worth that kind of risk. In my opinion, the members of this Committee would be better off by sitting on this bill and taking no action on it.