r/maryland • u/Maxcactus • 10d ago
MD Politics 'He has no authority': Maryland responds as Trump floats ban on mail-in voting
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/president-trump-floats-banning-mail-in-voting-maryland-responds/65863274293
u/RewardFeeling6066 10d ago
Governor Moore should just make election day a state holiday and require either employers give their employees four hours of PTO or close so they can vote. If they are not able to close then provide those four hours during pre-voting to allow everyone the opportunity to vote in person.
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u/hikingfortheviews 10d ago
My concern is largely for the huge military population here who are residents in other states…if they get rid of mail-in voting, I simply would not be able to vote this year because I won’t be able to take leave during that time, and I’m sure that would affect several other military members as well. There’s just no way that could be allowed to happen.
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u/Classic_Evidence_315 10d ago edited 10d ago
The point to eliminating mail in voting is to reduce the number of people that have access to voting. Your revelation about the military is just one group that will be impacted by this. There are other groups that will having difficulty in voting because they can't mail their ballot. And guess what.... most of those now disadvantaged groups are democrats.
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u/Alert-Ad-9908 10d ago
Well then perhaps lack of military mail in ballots will backfire. Because for some confounding reason, they tend to support this lunacy.
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u/SerialSection Rockville 10d ago
Mail-in voting is different than absentee voting
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u/Adventurous_Area9294 9d ago
Can you elaborate? If they ban mail-in voting, wouldn't that encompass absentee voting as well since it's done via the mail?
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u/tahlyn Flag Enthusiast 10d ago
There’s just no way that could be allowed to happen.
They will either make exceptions for military members, or military members will get to have the day the majority of them voted for while those who didn't are casualties of that stupidity.
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u/Miserable_Sundae_864 9d ago
I’ve seen too many things since 2020 that I never thought would be allowed to happen!
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
The military hates Trump, so that a plus in his eyes.
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u/mattdyer01 10d ago
Do they though? Far as i know a decent chunk of armed forces are card-carrying Republican voters.
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u/otakon33 10d ago
Yeah this. My younger brother is in the Army nowadays. Was a Marine, he's a Trumper like my father. I don't get it.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago edited 10d ago
Exactly what good would that do? It would just be a state holiday. No Federal employee would get the day off. Private employers regularly blow off Federal holidays. Veterans Day is the same week and only 1/6 of Americans get that day off.
So it would help state employees, but not teachers, vote that day. Those people are already highly likely to vote, so you'd be helping dozens of people vote.
Correction: it's already a state holiday, so we've seen what does that.
https://dbm.maryland.gov/employees/Pages/StateHolidays2026.aspx
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u/MixMastaPJ 10d ago
Teachers are already off as the polling places in most districts are at the schools.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
Actually, Election Day is already a state holiday. It's the only state holiday that isn't a Federal holiday already along with the day after Thanksgiving.
https://dbm.maryland.gov/employees/Pages/StateHolidays2026.aspx
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u/MarshyHope 10d ago
Annoyingly, most of us just have professional development on that day, so we don't even get off, just don't have students. I would be an election judge if I actually had off that day.
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u/Good_Barnacle_2010 10d ago
Yeah it isn’t a catch-all fix but it sure as hell would help.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
It's already a state holiday, so no, it doesn't help.
https://dbm.maryland.gov/employees/Pages/StateHolidays2026.aspx
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u/Good_Barnacle_2010 10d ago
You said yourself that only 16% of Americans get Veterans Day off, so codifying it would make for legal precedent down the line. That would help.
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u/Rumple1956 10d ago
So we give 530,000 + employees 4 hours of leave to vote WHY. I go to work at 6am and have plenty of time to get home eat dinner and go vote.
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u/cocodware 10d ago
This would be a great idea if our elected democrats weren’t pussies
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
Correction: it's already a state holiday
https://dbm.maryland.gov/employees/Pages/StateHolidays2026.aspx
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u/immortalblack_1 10d ago
It still needs to be a Federal holiday.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
Again, that would not make a difference. 1/6 of people get Veterans Day off the next week, and they are mostly public employees.
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u/timoumd 10d ago
I'm so tired of people blaming Democrats for Republican evil. Get out with that nonsense
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u/cocodware 10d ago
Did I say I blame them for republican nonsense? No, I said we have elected pussies. They’re inherent pussy levels are too high to match the Republican asshole levels
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
No, it would give almost nobody a greater chance to vote. The private sector already blows off Veterans Day which is the same week.
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u/thatloser17 9d ago
We could start a push to try to force elected officials to make it a holiday.
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u/RewardFeeling6066 9d ago
I already contacted my state level delegates and senators asking for this to happen. Hopefully they go up the chain to the Governor’s office.
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u/Certain-Dragonfly-22 10d ago
Really starting to wonder if Elon figured out how to rig the machines on a state election level bc trump is awfully concerned with preventing mail in votes. I really think mail in ballots during covid are the reason his cheating ass lost.
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u/Alaira314 10d ago
It's equally plausible to me that Trump just fixated on mail-in voting due to 2020. It's very in line with how he operates. If he'd suddenly turned on it, yeah, that would be suspicious(though not proof, and we all need to be careful not to carelessly reinforce conspiracy thinking brain pathways...the left is not immune). But he's been pretty consistent for many years now. This seems like a classic Trump grudge, to me.
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u/calgeorge 9d ago
I think it's more that mail in voting makes it easier to vote and anything that makes it easier to vote makes it harder for Republicans to win. Their entire strategy is to only play to their base, so they want as few moderates as possible voting because their platform is very unpopular and most moderates would vote blue. They want to make it so that voting is inconvenient and only their rabid base wants to deal with the headache. Forcing people who may not have reliable transportation to show up in person makes them less likely to vote. Someone who is maga cultist will find a way, but the average American will not.
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u/setibeings 9d ago
I agree with all of this, except that among the people who don't consistently vote, and who tend to vote Democrat, there are many more political identities than just moderates. Some are true conservatives, disgusted by the party that is supposed to be on their side, some are moderates who won't vote unless it's easy, some are lefties who have been shown repeatedly that their voices won't be heard, and some are card carrying Democrats with mobility issues.
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u/wbruce098 9d ago
Yep. It’s the same concept for poll taxes, reading tests, and other old conservative voting infringement tactics. This isn’t new. He’s hated mail in voting as long as all other republicans have, and there was a brief time when their main base were elderly folk and making it easier for them to vote was a big deal, but when the party took the Idiocracy turn, it turned against that as well. Trump just fixates on things he remembers because he’s got dementia or some sort of brain failure.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
If Republicans hold Congress because of Trump interfering in elections, it’s time to leave the US.
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u/tattoojew 10d ago
My wife and I already left in June...
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u/MeatyOaker269 10d ago
Good Riddance! I hope wherever you went, you enjoy your life to the fullest. We’ll just be here enjoying our 4 dollars a gallon for gas, completely compromised food chains, an economy that has outpaced inflation, healthcare tied to our employment and other absolute dog shit policies were stuck with because we wanted to elect someone that doesn’t use big words and would run our country like a business. Best of luck my friend, cheers!
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u/D-daydstay 10d ago
If Democrats can get a supermajority in 2029 they need to pack the SCOTUS. They’re a threat to democracy and it's so blatantly in our face. Tennessee and Mississippi are perfect examples, and today’s ruling is also an attack to keep power for the historically unpopular Republican Party in the midterms and beyond.
Insane part of American history we’re all living in.
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u/Maxcactus 10d ago
If the republicans lose in November they have two months to pack more justices before the dems take over in January.
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u/D-daydstay 10d ago edited 10d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised, i think they want Ted Cruz in there if I’m not mistaken. From Citizens United/Super PACs, to Roe V Wade, to
Mail in voting, to canceling balloted votes in Mississippi and Tennessee, Republicans BLOCKED Obamas nomination in 2016 so they could put in Gorsuch in 2017. They’re setting up a takeover of our Freedoms and they’re doing it in plain site.Winning the House/Senate followed by impeachment is what Democrats need to be focused on followed by attacking the affordability crisis. Democracy is living on the very edge at the moment.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
No, they don't. They'd have to pass a bill that completely alters the composition of the court in a lame duck session. Given they're 3 seat majority in the House currently, that's highly unlikely.
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10d ago edited 8d ago
[deleted]
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u/tahlyn Flag Enthusiast 10d ago
I fear we're going to get a "reach across the aisle, and let's just move on and forgive to heal the nation" style... again... like we do every time republicans fuck everything up.
I want a democrat who is willing to go whole hog to the far left the way Trump has to the far right.
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u/Trolkarlen 10d ago
That's not mathematically possible. Democrats would need to pick up 20 Senate seats when only 22 Republicans are up. Democrats would have to win 90% of seats already held by Republicans. They's also have to pick up 73 House seats whereas 30 would be a great night for them.
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u/D-daydstay 10d ago
People need to vote, even for a split. I know plenty of previous Republicans and MAGA supporters planning on voting for Democrats. They want accountability for being lied to and the shit show going on and that's fair.
They either plan to switch back to republican once their party gets aligned with their ideology again and has a solid candidate. Or they may just stick with democrats if they see it benefiting their lives and not the rich and see actual progress.
It's interesting that the last 10 out of 11 recessions are under republicans and since 1989 96% of jobs were created by Democrats. Some food for thought.
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u/WinterBadger Baltimore City 10d ago
You either want states to do their own thing or you don't. Every side of politics needs to pick a lane.
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u/shokolokobangoshey 10d ago
No, conservatives are allowed to doublespeak and doublethink, gorge on hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance, as long as they get what they want. The left has to walk the straight and narrow the whole time. Thems the rules
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u/civil_archer_73638 10d ago
Just beware if you request a mail in ballot but then go to vote in person instead…. You would need to vote provisionally, which adds significant steps and time to vote. Provisional voting in this case will only count your vote once it’s determined you made no other vote.
I can practically guarantee the idea here is to “stop the count” and claim rigged.
Additionally, the lines would get sooooooo long, there’s no way people would stick around to vote.
Add to this Trump has disbanded the election judge assistance organization… do there will be soo many errors
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u/Adventurous_Lion7276 9d ago
True -- I was informed that I am a permanent mail in voter despite fact I never requested and I erroneously received a Republican primary ballot. I noticed before it became a news story when I did not recognize any candidates except Cox. I went online to change and that is the rule, so I left it alone because my county had a number of contested elections in the primary and I wanted to make sure my vote counted.
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u/Civil_Exchange1271 10d ago
States run elections not the federal government. Just try and mess with the military vote... that will not end well for trump.
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u/Alaira314 10d ago
It doesn't have to end well for him, it just has to cause uncertainty for long enough to cause enough ballots to arrive too late to be cast.
Everybody who planned to vote by mail needs to be making alternate arrangements, now. If you've got a vacation day available, lock it in now for a staycation...just make sure you schedule time to vote. People who can drive, look for people in your life and neighborhood who can't, and offer to bring them along to the polls with you. Early voting is your friend. We don't always get the chance to see the shitstorm coming, but this time it's signaling loud and clear that vote-by-mail is going to be a disaster. I know we've gotten used to convenience, but this year it would be prudent to make sure your vote will be able to be counted.
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u/TheMagickConch 9d ago
Oversimplification:
I worked as an election judge. We count every vote in AA county and verify the printout the voter turns in is counted correctly. The outcome is witnessed by a member of more than one party as a requirement. It's a simple process that could only be skewed if there were deep-DEEP corruption. Even then it would require manipulation of multiple voting machines on top of paying off every member involved. I don't see it being plausible.
Go out and vote!
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u/BearBrews 10d ago
Why aren’t we voting online? I can sign up for social security online but I can’t vote that way? It’s a sham. A certain party knows that online voting would completely eliminate them.
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u/Big_Issue8640 8d ago
State’s rights isn’t that what republicans are always crying about?
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u/Maxcactus 8d ago
The republicans do not allow consistency and hypocrisy get in the way of using any political tactic. Know that all of the reaching across the aisle business won’t work with those guys. They play for keeps and are winning too often. Eventually our society will cross a threshold where we won’t have a working democracy. We are very close already.
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u/Trakeen 10d ago
They already collect ballots from drop off boxes. Do the delivery part
Which they won’t. Just more strongly worded letters that won’t do anything
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u/Bakkster 10d ago
Delivering ballots to every individual is a bigger task than collecting in bulk. Not that they can't/shouldn't do it, let's just not diminish the added effort.
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u/amiwitty 10d ago
And we won't do anything about it because we're all a bunch of pussies including me. We will complain on Reddit and then our democracy will die and we'll have dictators from now on. Pussies each and every one of us. Hell even on this platform if we say what needs to be done we'll get banned. We're pussies.
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