The Assault on the Referendum Continues

It started during last year’s General Assembly session and extended into the summer throughout the courts but as expected the assault on the referendum process by Maryland’s Democrats looks like it will continue into this year’s session:

 After petitions sent three Maryland laws to voters this fall — the first such referendums in 20 years — state leaders said Tuesday that the process designed in the era before electronic signatures needs a fresh look. “Our forefathers never imagined everything that we did in Annapolis would be subject to referendum,” Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said. 

Opponents of same-sex marriage, the Dream Act that granted in-state tuition to some illegal immigrants and the redrawn congressional boundaries harnessed the petition process, gathering enough signatures to place each law on the November ballot. Voters upheld them all, and the referendum process underwent new public scrutiny.

Read the whole thing.

Trending: Thank You

We have seen time and time again the Maryland Democratic Party tries to spike the football just because they can, and let’s face it any attempt to significantly alter the petition process in order to make it more difficult for the citizens to petition for the redress of grievances is merely Democrats doing something because they can. Nevermind the fact that the Democrats successfully beat back all the challenges of questions 4, 5, and 6 (though one could argue they got quite an assist from the Presidential election year turnout and the lack of ground game in support of the “Vote No” sides). Despite their overwhelming victories in this process, the Democrats want to change the process anyway.

I said last March the Democrats were scared. If they move to radically alter the referendum process, it will prove to me that in reality they still are.