How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts in November
Common Sense Staff • August 18, 2020
The Trump administration has launched a fierce attack on vote-by-mail, lately by undermining the U.S. Postal Service. Recently appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of Trump’s major donors, has made major cutbacks both in finance and staff. Overtime has been slashed, mechanized sorters are being removed from local post offices (making it necessary for staff to sort by hand), and hundreds of corner mailboxes have been removed. Trump admitted last week that he is blocking emergency funding for the USPS to make it more difficult to process the millions of mail-in ballots expected this fall in order to limit voting by mail. The USPS recently sent letters to 46 states including Maryland warning them that the post office cannot guarantee that all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted.
These actions come at a time when states are wrestling with how to conduct elections during a pandemic, as many people will hesitate to visit a polling place to vote in person. Maryland is one of those states.
On August 7, the Maryland State Board of Elections voted unanimously to recommend holding all in-person voting at voting centers rather than the usual polling places; this would allow voters to use any center in their county. They also voted to add all Maryland’s 282 high schools to the state’s 80 early voting centers. Early voting will run from Monday, October 26 through Monday, November 2.
The Governor approved the SBE’s plan for 360 voting centers in the state, although he noted what he said were “serious concerns” with the proposal. These concerns include the system’s potential to result in long lines and unsafe conditions. The voting center plan is an alternative to opening about 1,600 polling places around the state. It is in part a response to the extreme shortage of election judges. The Washington Post reported that 4 out of 10 election judge jobs in Maryland are vacant. Additionally, Hogan has reprimanded the Board for not immediately complying with his order to mail the ballot applications. Election officials say that the applications are expected to be mailed by August 28.
According to a Baltimore Sun article, the voting center plan was a compromise between the position of election rights advocates, who wanted the state to mail all voters a ballot to discourage voting in person (as was done for the primary election in June), and the Governor’s position, calling for traditional, in-person voting in local precincts, but with mailed-in absentee ballots as an alternative to in-person voting. The ACLU of Maryland noted that when ballots were mailed to voters for the primary, 97 percent of the votes were mail-in; if that process were repeated in the fall, the result would perhaps be 90 percent mail-in and 10 percent in-person voters. In that case the 360 voting centers could handle the number of in-person voters. The added step of voters having to request absentee ballots, however, will add confusion to the process, and many voters may be caught off guard and be forced to vote in person at the last minute. At present, the locations of the 360 voting centers have not been announced, and it is not clear yet how many voting centers there will be in Eastern Shore counties.
In order to make sure your vote counts this year, plan ahead. If you choose to vote by absentee ballot, you must apply for a ballot; mail your ballot request application early, or apply online early. Then, mail your ballot back EARLY. Or, better still, Your Vote, Your Voice Maryland recommends that everyone drop their ballots off at one of the drop-off boxes in their county rather than sending them through the mail. Or vote in person at an early voting center when fewer people might be there. Spread the word. Make sure all your friends and family know this vital information. And, above all, don’t let this intentional confusion persuade you it’s too much trouble to cast your vote!
For more information:
https://iwillvote.com/
https://www.yourvoteyourvoicemd.org/
https://elections.maryland.gov/
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
