Creating a Referendum
In Maryland, voters can create referendums to veto laws passed by their legislature, such as overly partisan redistrictings. This page contains an overview of how to get your referendum on the ballot.
Restrictions
The Maryland Constitution restricts using the veto referendum on laws regarding the sale or manufacturing or on budget laws that don't just increase previous allocations.
Applying to petition
A draft of the petition form should be submitted prior to circulation to receive approval or technical suggestions from the state board of elections.
Petition documents
A petition must contain an information sheet as well as the signature sheets.
The information sheet must contain:
- a description of the purpose of the petition
- identification of the sponsor of the petition
- summary information about the signatures contained in the petition
- an affidavit as to the validity of the petition
Each signature sheet must contain:
- a description of the purpose of the petition
- a fair and accurate summary of the bill or parts of a bill targeted by the referendum or the full text of the targeted law
- a statement to which each signer subscribes saying that the signer supports the purpose of the petition and is a registered voter in the county specified
- a space for the signer's signature and required information, including:
- the signer's name and signature
- the date of signing
- the signer's address
- the county in which the signer is registered to vote
- a circulator affidavit
Requirements
To veto a Maryland law, you must collect a number of signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election.
For 2018, the requirement is 51,996 votes.
Not more than half of those signatures can be from the same county (or Baltimore City).
Affidavit
The following affidavit must be signed by the circulator and attatched to the petition sheet: "the signatures were affixed in his (/her) presence and that, based upon the person's best knowledge and belief, every signature on the paper is genuine and bona fide and that the signers are registered voters at the address set opposite or below their names."
Currently, this affidavit means electronic signatures are not valid in Maryland.
Collection Deadlines
You can start collecting signatures as soon as the bill to be vetoed has been passed by the legislature. By June 1st, when the bill will go into effect, you must file at least one third of the required signatures (1% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election) with the secretary of state. You then have until June 30th to obtain the remaing 2/3 of the signatures.
For emergency bills or bills passed less than 45 days before June 1, you have until 30 days after the bill is passed by the legislature to turn in the first one-third of required signatures. You will have 30 more days to collect and submit the remaining two-thirds of the signatures.
Withdrawal
Up until the petition is filed, any signer can have his signature removed from the petition "upon written application to" the secretary of state.