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Vote No on Question 1

When Marylanders go to the polls on November 8, they will not only be voting for candidates for political office, they will also be voting on various ballot measures. This year there is one statewide ballot measure, Question One.

It reads:

Requires the Governor to appoint an individual to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator, Attorney General, or Comptroller from a list of names submitted by the State Central Committee of the political party of the vacating officeholder; requiring individuals whose names are submitted to the Governor to have been affiliated with the political party of the vacating officeholder before the vacancy occurred; providing for the appointment of an individual to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator, Attorney General, or Comptroller in circumstances where the political party of the vacating officeholder fails to submit names to the Governor within a certain period of time or the vacating officeholder was not affiliated with a political party; requiring an individual appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy in the offices of either the Attorney General or the Comptroller to serve for the remainder of the term if the vacancy occurs after a certain date; requiring that a special election be held at the same time as a certain regular statewide election to fill a vacancy in the offices of either the Attorney General or the Comptroller if the vacancy occurs on or before a certain date; providing for the effective dates of this Act.

We at Red Maryland have always held the opinion that the more elections the better but in this case the superficial good of a free and fair election is made the unwilling servant of petty partisanship and protecting political spoils. It is because of this that the editors of Red Maryland are asking Marylanders to vote NO on Question 1.

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The current system allows a governor to replace any officeholder who leaves office before his or her (or xe, for you hipster Democrats reading this) term is completed. It is not a great system and lends itself to partisanship, nepotism, and any number of other political ills. The remedy Question 1 offers is actually worse than the disease.

Question 1 requires the governor to appoint a person from the same party as the vacating officeholder who departs in the last two years of their term – the time when such resignations are most likely – and only allows a special election for vacancies that take place before the two-year mark.

One must ask why this ballot measure and why now?

The answer is obvious: Larry Hogan.

The ballot question is baldly partisan measure developed by baldly partisan Democrats that has exactly one purpose, and that is to deprive Governor Hogan of the ability to fill vacancies in the last two years of his term. And it is sign that the Maryland Democrat machine fears that Governor Hogan could very well win reelection in 2018 and they don’t want anyone or anything to disturb the nice little plantation they have built for themselves.



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