This action is being taken in advance of the 2022 Primary Election.
Annapolis, Md (KM) More than three-million request forms for ballots for the June 28th, 2022 primary election are being sent out this week by the Maryland State Board of Elections. “Under a law that passed last year, we are required to send out to registered voters this form to let people know that they can request and receive a ballot by mail,” says Nikki Charlson, the Deputy Administrator for the Maryland State Board of Elections.
The Board says these forms should be arriving at residents’ mailboxes later this week.
Charlson says these forms are going to those citizens who are registered as Democrats or Republicans. “We started with registered Democrats and Republicans because we know that they have a primary election in June,” she says. “That’s what the June election is for. It’s for Democrats and Republicans to select their nominees for the general election.”
But Charlson says those who are unaffiliated or registered with a third party such as the Greens or the Libertarians, could also receive a ballot request form in the mail. “We will be doing another mailing before the primary election for voters who are registered with other political parties, or voters who have declined to register with a party if they’re able to vote in the primary,” she says. “Those will be going out once we have the final list of candidates. And then if a voter’s not eligible to vote in the primary, then they will get their form after the primary election.”
She says non-affiliated voters, and those from other parties can vote for local school board members as that contest is non-partisan.
Residents who want to receive a mail-in ballot for the primary need to have their request forms in by June 21st. Charlson says voters who receive their ballots must have them in the mail so they can be postmarked by June 28th, the day of the primary election.
Residents who wish to vote in person can just ignore the ballot request form mailed to them, and show up their local polling place.
In order vote in Maryland, you need to be registered. To do that, visit elections.maryland.gov.
By Kevin McManus