The state Board of Elections has found that the petition drive to force a referendum on new early voting laws fell just short of collecting enough signatures, but the leader of the drive is accusing the election administrator of “committing fraud.”
The signatures on the petitions were verified by local election boards, and they found that the petitions came up 138 names shy of the 17,062 signatures needed to keep the ballot drive alive. The petitioners, mostly Republicans, want to block plans to allow voting a week before the primary and general elections.
“It?s inaccurate,” said Tom Roskelly, who heads Marylanders for Fair Elections. “We are going to demand a public recount of the discarded signatures.”
“I believe the administrator of the state election office is committing fraud to prevent voter fraud,” Roskelly said.
But Election Administrator Linda Lamone pointed out: “I don?t count the signatures. The local Boards of Elections check them, and the local boards are controlled by the Republican Party.”
Local boards are appointed by the governor, and the majority must be members of his party.
Audra Miller, spokesman for the state Republican Party, said Lamone?s action “illustrates completely why we have no faith in the state administrator of elections.” Miller said Lamone succumbed to pressurefrom Democratic Party leaders.
“This illustrates how ripe our system is with fraud,” Miller said.
Roskelly said his group would continue to collect signatures to meet the requirement of about 51,000 by June 30.
Even if all the signatures are collected, the referendum drive has other legal hurdles. The Attorney General has ruled that it is too late to put the 2005 early voting bill on the ballot, and this year?s provision for early voting locations is an emergency bill, and must stay in effect until the referendum is decided.
Lawsuits are likely to challenge those rulings.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
