2 in GOP sue city over mail voting

Hearing set for Aug. 2 to consider the legal arguments in the case

A hearing is set for next month in a lawsuit brought by two Republican political candidates who are suing to stop Annapolis from mailing ballots to all registered voters in its upcoming primary and general elections.

Herb McMillan, a candidate for County Executive, and George Gallagher, a Ward 6 candidate in the city, filed the complaint in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Thursday seeking to prevent the city from implementing the vote-by-mail system.

In an emergency hearing Friday afternoon, Circuit Court Associate Judge William C. Mulford denied a motion by the plaintiffs’ attorney Charles Muskin for a temporary restraining order. A hearing is set for Aug. 2 to consider the legal arguments in the case, Muskin said.

At that hearing, the court will hear arguments from Muskin, as well as attorneys for the city and county board of elections, on two legal questions posed in the lawsuit. The first will be over the legality of mailing ballots directly to voters; the second is whether the city is allowed to pay for the postage on the ballots that are returned, Muskin said.

The lawsuit claims the system approved by the Annapolis Board of Supervisors of Elections in May, which includes paying for postage of all returned mail-in ballots, violates City Code and is unconstitutional.

“The City Board’s decisions exceed its authority. In short, the Board has unilaterally gone rogue,” the complaint reads.

Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are the City of Annapolis, Finance Director Jodee Dickinson, Annapolis Elections Board Director Eileen Leahy and Brenda Yarema, President of Anne Arundel County Board of Elections.

“This is another attack on voters,” Mayor Gavin Buckley said in a statement. “Anyone that would do this is trying to bring division into Annapolis and that is unacceptable.”

Gallagher, who waited outside Mulford’s chambers to hear the result of the hearing, said the lawsuit was a necessary step to ensure the city follows its election code.

“We will have our day in court,” he said.

If the City Council wants to use a vote-by-mail system, it should draft a bill, hold hearings and change the law, McMillan said in a phone interview.

“I find it amusing that the mayor would say this is divisive. He’s ignoring the law; that’s about the most divisive thing you can do,” he said.

Through a city spokesperson, Leahy said, “We will prove that we have the right to use mail-in ballots in increasing participation in voting.”

The Annapolis City Code gives the elections board power to “make all necessary rules and regulations” to register voters and conduct elections. It lays out two ways to cast ballots, either in-person or by absentee, which requires completion of a ballot application. The code also indicates the voters, not the city, should pay for postage related to ballots.

“In deciding to simply mail an absentee/mail-in ballot to all eligible voters, without requiring the voter to make an application for that ballot, the City Board has ignored the clear wording of the City’s Code,” the complaint reads.

James Praley, attorney for the Anne Arundel County Elections Board, said it’s the county’s position that they should not be a party to the lawsuit because it is a city election. The county board provides voting machines and other infrastructure to the city to hold its elections every four years as a courtesy and because Annapolis residents also live in the county, he said.

“We have expertise. We’re providing administrative services. We’re really not the decision-makers,” he said.

Since the new vote-bymail system was announced, some Republicans have criticized the move, questioning its legality, and the potential for fraud.

Last week, Leahy and County Elections Director Joe Torre met with the Annapolis City Council to answer questions about their election plans, fielding numerous questions about potential voter fraud, signature verification and other issues.

The Democratic members of the board, Leahy and board member Briayna Cuffie, approved the new system after discussions with Torre and the county elections board. The parties agreed the 42-day period between the Sept. 21 primary and Nov. 2 general elections was not enough time to execute a ballot application system similar to the one used in the 2020 presidential election.

Republican board member Cliff Myers was not present at the meeting when the plan was approved but would have voted no on the proposal, he said later. Myers has since left the board because he no longer lives in the city as required by city law. The City Council will consider a replacement for Myers at its meeting on Monday.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman called the lawsuit disappointing.

“It’s unfortunate that our judges and our court system are gonna have to take time handling this when there’s important work to be done,” Pittman said, adding that he has full faith in the county elections board to help administer the city’s elections.

“They were very clear after the (Maryland) 2020 primary that it worked well to have ballots mailed to registered voters,” he said. “I am pleased Annapolis has moved in this direction and it’s very important that they be allowed to do so.”

McMillan, a former Annapolis alderman and Maryland delegate representing Annapolis, has launched a campaign to become the Republican candidate hoping to unseat Pittman next year.

Gallagher, who sought to represent Ward 6 in a 2019 special election is taking a second run at the City Council seat.

He will likely face Democratic incumbent DaJuan Gay, D-Ward 6, in the Nov. 2 general election.

The ACLU of Maryland praised Annapolis’s efforts to expand voter access and encouraged other state and local election officials to follow suit.

“We applaud the City of Annapolis for taking action to strengthen local democracy by giving voters more options in how they cast their ballot,” said Amy Cruice, director of the ACLU of Maryland Election Protection Program. “In Maryland in 2020, we saw increased voter participation in part due to mailing registered voters ballots, which was done safely and effectively.”

Daryl Jones, a former County Council member who now co-leads the voting rights group Transformative Justice Coalition, said the lawsuit is a localized attempt to decrease the public’s

access to the ballot, likening it to efforts by Republican-led legislatures in other states like Texas and Florida to enact restrictive voter laws.

For months, Jones’s group and other advocates have been pushing for Congress to pass the “For the People” Act, a sweeping voting rights and campaign finance reform law currently being debated in the U.S. Senate.

“We’re pushing for national federalization of the standards of voting because there are these local groups, these local governments that are restricting access to the ballot box,” Jones said. “And the only way to overcome that is to have the federal government come in and say, ‘This is the standard. This is what you must do.’ ”