Davenport Voter’s Guide, 2022 Maryland Democratic General Election

Voting day, November 8th. Although you can vote in person, you should vote absentee.

Voting Absentee: As you may know, your absentee ballot goes into a special envelope that the Board of Elections provides. As the instructions say, you must sign this envelope. The Board will receive your ballot, look your name up to make sure it’s the only ballot you’ve sent or voted, make sure it’s signed, and then they will take your ballot out and count it. Do not put your name or anything but your votes onto your ballot.

Endorsements and Guides of Interest

  • League of Women Voters and their print guide. They have a cool feature where you can select your candidates and then they will email them to you, so you can it print out and take it with you to the polls. You are not supposed to use your phone, but paper is allowed and encouraged.
  • Washington Post

Contests

There are no Republicans on the ballot that I would recommend you vote for. I know there are ethical and effective Republicans still in the party (we miss you, Connie Morella) but not on your ballot.

Governor: Wes Moore.

Comptroller: Brooke Lierman.

Attorney General: Anthony Brown.

Senator: Chris Van Hollen.

Representative: Jamie Raskin.

State Senator: Susan Lee is unopposed. Feel free to write “Connie Morella” as a write-in candidate.

House of Delegates: Kelly, Korman, and Love are unopposed.

County Executive: Marc Elrich. He won the primary by 32 votes.

County Council At Large: Gabe Albornoz, Evan Glass, Will Jawando, and Laurie-Ann Sayles

County Council District 1: Andrew Friedson is unopposed. You may be in a different district than me.

Judge of the Circuit Court Circuit 6: Acosta, Chernosky, Domais, and McGuckian are unopposed.

Court of Appeals Circuit 7: Steven Gould, yes.

Court of Special Appeals At Large: Stuart Berger, yes.

Court of Special Appeals At Large: Terrance Zic, yes.

Court of Special Appeals Ciruit 7: Rosalyn Tang, yes.

State’s Attorney: John McCarthy.

Clerk of the Circuit Court: Karen Bushell.

Register of Wills: Joseph Griffin.

Sheriff: Maxwell Uy.

We vote for Board of Education members for all districts, regardless of which one you live in. It’s kinda silly. A good discussion of these candidates in Bethesda Magazine, and on the League of Women Voter’s guide. My opinions are based on how well the school board did during the height of the pandemic and how the candidates think they would have done things better. I know that distance learning sucks but avoiding COVID was more important. And it was key to form useful plans, which the school board did not. I also want former teachers in these positions where possible.

Board of Education At Large: Karla Silvestre (Discussion)

Board of Education District 1: Grace Rivera Oven (Discussion)

Board of Education District 3: Julie Yang (Discussion)

Board of Education District 5: Valerie M. Coll (Discussion)

State questions

Question 1: Rename Court of Special Appeals, sure, why not. Did you know the Supreme Court of Maryland does not exist? Vote yes and it will.

Question 2: Politicians must live primarily where their constituents live. Yes. This closes a tiny loophole where a politician can have multiple homes, one where their constituents live but not their primary residence.

Question 3: Civil Trials may have a jury if $25000 at stake. Yes. A jury trial is much more expensive, and the previous limit was $15000. So, if you sue me for bad election advice and you claim $20000 in damages, you can do so more cheaply now.

Question 4: Legalized marijuana. Hell yes. Can we legalize all drugs please? I don’t want to use them, but we’ve seen that putting people in jail for drugs does not stop their use. We figured this out with the 21st Amendment. And congratulations to Drugs on winning the War on Drugs.

Question 5: Howard County Judges serve on Orphans’ Court. Yes. Currently only Howard County judges are not required to serve.

Montgomery County question

Question A: County Attorney can only be removed by County Executive and County Counsel together. Yes. Currently the County Executive can remove the County Attorney, which makes it look like the County Attorney serves at the pleasure of the County Executive. This is not the case, and it is important that the County Attorney have independence, especially when the County Attorney disagrees with the County Executive.