By Adam Pagnucco.
Last month, we reported that the Committee for Better Government, a group organized by former Republican county executive candidate Reardon Sullivan, had submitted signatures to the Board of Elections on behalf of a charter amendment reducing county executive term limits from three to two. The group needs to submit 10,000 valid signatures from county voters for the charter amendment to appear on the ballot, and then voters would decide its fate in the upcoming general election.
Today, the Board of Elections issued a statement announcing that the group had so far obtained 9,374 valid signatures. But the story is not over. Last month, the term limits group claimed, “This is the first of what will be three deliveries of ballot petition signature submissions.” The group has until July 29 to submit any remaining signatures in its possession.
Also of relevance is that County Executive Marc Elrich is actively seeking help to defeat the initiative. And while the county council cannot outright block the group’s charter amendment, it could conceivably place a conflicting amendment on the ballot. If both pass, a 2002 state attorney general’s opinion holds that both would fail, although that opinion has not been tested in court. The term limits group is already warning of mischief-making on the ballot.
A final aspect of this issue is that the term limits push is being financed by elements of the real estate industry, which Elrich has repeatedly antagonized during his more than thirty years in county and municipal office. The Elrich-Real Estate War is one of the longest-running story arcs in the modern history of MoCo politics.
I have reached out to Reardon Sullivan, the term limits group’s leader, for comment. If I receive one, I will update this post. (Update: Sullivan’s statement appears later in this post.)
Reprinted below is the statement issued today by the Board of Elections.
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For immediate release: Friday, July 5, 2024
Montgomery County Board of Elections Petition Update
On Friday, July 5, 2024, the Montgomery County Board of Elections completed the verification of 12,130 petition signatures submitted by the Committee for Better Government. The petition is to amend the County Charter of Montgomery County, Maryland to bar any County Executive from serving more than two full or partial consecutive terms of office.
The Board of Election processed each submitted signature as per legal requirements and determined that:
9,374 submitted petition signatures were validated and
2,756 submitted signatures were rejected.
The Petition must have 10,000 validated signatures for the question to appear on the 2024 General Election ballot. The Committee for Better Government has until July 29, 2024, to submit additional petition signatures to the Board of Elections for validation.
Montgomery County Board of Elections will provide an update when additional signatures are received for validation.
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After writing this post, I received a statement from Reardon Sullivan, who is leading the ballot effort. I reprint it below.
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The Committee for Better Government was pleased to receive the report from the Board of Elections acknowledging that we have submitted over 90% of the signatures required to put term limits on the ballot in November. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike support this ballot imitative. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyEyY62hwlM.
Our Committee will submit another 6,800+ signatures by July 12th fortifying that the question to limit the term of the County Executive will be on the November ballot, regardless of challenges.
“The County Council should refrain from posting any conflicting or confusing questions on the November ballot,” said Reardon Sullivan, Chair of the Committee for Better Government. Sullivan noted, “In the past, the County Council has played this game of submitting a conflicting ballot question just to confuse and subvert the will of the voting electorate. Shame on them if they try this tactic yet again.” Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJVpw71Ezk