Transparent and fair elections are a non-partisan issue—they are the foundation of our Constitutional Republic. Without election integrity, we the American people lose faith in their government, and democracy itself is weakened.
While questioning election results is nothing new—remember the Bush vs. Gore recount in 2000—something changed in 2016. Since then, distrust in both local and national elections has grown at an alarming rate. People across the political spectrum have expressed concerns about irregularities, but instead of addressing these concerns, election officials often dismiss them.
A group of us took on the responsibility of investigating what is driving this growing distrust. Our mission has never been about overturning or denying an election—instead we sought to understand weaknesses in the system and push for necessary reforms to restore confidence in Maryland’s elections.
The “Restoring Faith in Maryland Elections” Report
In February 2024, we delivered the “Restoring Faith in Maryland Elections” report to both the Maryland State Board of Elections and local election officials. Sadly, they chose to ignore it.
Our report revealed serious issues, including:
- Duplicate Voter Registrations – Individuals appearing multiple times in the system.
- Voters Who Moved – People registered at addresses they no longer reside in.
- Invalid Residential Addresses – Registrants listed at locations that are not valid according to the United States Postal Service (USPS).
To address these concerns, we proposed four key recommendations:
- Jointly review and resolve identified registration violations in advance of the 2024 elections.
- Create a joint List Maintenance Task force to identify and address additional inaccuracies found in the voter registration database.
- Create a joint Voter Security Task force to identify risks and vulnerabilities associated with the end-to-end voting system, evaluate the likelihood and impact of each, determine resolutions, and develop short-term mitigations to reduce the overall risk. The task force will focus on any entry point into the system where an intentional or unintentional action results in disenfranchising any voter by prohibiting a legitimate voter from voting and diluting the vote of a legally cast vote.
- Jointly support through public writings and testimony all efforts that will improve the security of our election system and increase public faith and confidence in our election system.
In addition to our findings, we compared U.S. Census data with the official Maryland voter registration database and found shocking results:
- Maryland’s voter registration rate is 98.8% for all voters and 92.8% for active voters—numbers that defy logic.
- Howard County’s voter registration is at 103%—meaning there are more registered voters than eligible citizens according to both official federal and state records.
Bloated voter rolls create opportunities for fraud, whether through mistaken or intentional misuse. Election integrity cannot be ensured without first securing our voter rolls.
Why We Must Demand Voter ID
The solution is simple: Voter ID laws ensure that the person casting a vote is the rightful, registered voter.
Voter ID is not about restricting the right to vote—it is about verifying identity, just as we do for countless other daily activities. A government-issued photo ID is required to:
- Visit a congressional representative’s office.
- Testify before a legislative committee.
- Board an airplane, buy alcohol, or open a bank account.
Yet, some claim that obtaining an ID is too difficult for certain voters. This argument is not only insulting but fundamentally dishonest. Every state provides options for free or low-cost identification, and requiring ID at the polls is a simple, reasonable safeguard.
Signature Verification: Securing Mail-In Ballots
Mail-in ballots introduce a major security risk because they lack a clear chain of custody compared to in-person voting. When a voter casts a ballot at a polling place, election officials track the voter at all times as they progress from check-in, to ballot pickup, to fill out the ballot, to scanning the ballot. No one is able to help the voter or touch their sacred ballot after receiving it from the ballot judge UNLESS an official form is signed and it is approved by a Chief Judge.
With mail-in voting, there are critical unanswered chain of custody questions after a ballots leaves the board of elections:
- Who actually received the ballot?
- Who filled out the ballot?
- Who signed the ballot envelope?
- Who delivered the ballot to the drop box or post office?
Currently, mail-in ballots in Maryland are accepted if there is any mark within the signature box even if is a simple line. This weakens election security and opens the door to fraud.
Yet, we are told that the equipment that scans mail-in ballot envelopes when they arrive is capable of signature verification—so why isn’t it being used? A simple reform requiring signature matching against the voter’s signature in the registration database would greatly improve ballot security and restore public trust.
The Call to Action: Demand Election Integrity Reforms
Election integrity is at stake, and we cannot afford to be passive. We must demand that our elected officials act.
- Require government-issued photo ID for in-person voting.
- Implement signature verification for mail-in ballots.
- Clean up bloated voter rolls to eliminate the opportunities for fraud.
Our Ask
We need everyone to pull out your government issued photo ID so that you can visit your representative and senator and demand that they require an ID to vote and verify signatures before accepting a mail-in ballot.
The Maryland Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee will vote on SB838, a bill requiring signature verification for Mail-In Ballots. This is our opportunity to push for meaningful reform. We are not alone, Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch is very active with voter accuracy and transparency in Maryland. He too sees the need to change Maryland’s voting procedures going forward.