Maryland Needs its Own Voting Rights Act

The Maryland Voting Rights Act (MDVRA)

Maryland is the most diverse state on the East Coast, yet substantial racial disparities persist in both voter participation and local representation. The Maryland Voting Rights Act – a package of four bills – would enact strong protections to ensure Black voters, other voters of color and all Marylanders with disabilities can fully participate in the electoral process free from discrimination.  

We are seeing attacks, not progress, on voting rights at the national level. The Trump Administration’s Project 2025 agenda includes plans to undermine enforcement of protections against voting discrimination. Instead of strengthening these protections by enacting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, leadership in Congress is pushing anti-voter legislation that will add more barriers to the ballot. And increasingly hostile federal courts—including the United States Supreme Court—have undercut the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Six decades after the passage of this landmark civil rights law, the attacks continue.

By enacting the Maryland Voting Rights Act (MDVRA), the Free State can step up to protect its own voters and cement its national leadership on voting rights.  

Maryland Voters Face Persistent Barriers and Discrimination

While Maryland has recently implemented several measures that make voting more equitable, Maryland voters still face barriers to the ballot box and conditions that can foster discrimination, such as unfair districts or at-large systems that weaken the voting power of Black voters and other voters of color, inaccessible polling locations, and insufficient language assistance for voters who don’t speak English comfortably. 

Black voters in Maryland face significant disparities in both participation and local representation. 

Recent research from the Brennan Center for Justice shows that Maryland ranked second in the nation in 2022 for the number of Black voters that did not vote but would have if turnout rates were equal between Black and white Marylanders.  In other words, due to Maryland’s significant Black population, its racial turnout disparities are warping its electorate to sharply reduce Black political power.   

ACLU of Maryland has found that, as of 2024, more than half of Maryland municipalities have substantial populations of people of color, and nearly a quarter those municipalities have all white governments. And they found that one-third of the counties with substantial populations of people of color lack any elected officials of color. There is a high risk that Black voters and other voters of color have not been able to elect candidates of their choice. 

The MDVRA Will Protect Voters of Color and Strengthen Maryland’s Democracy for All

It’s time for Maryland to set a new standard for protecting the right to vote. The MDVRA will help Maryland fight discrimination at home and become a national leader on the right to vote.  

The MDVRA will do this through provisions that:

Boost Election Transparency

The MDVRA updates existing law to ensure that local governments are required to notify voters of important changes in advance to reduce confusion and facilitate public input, and it creates a statewide database of election information to promote best practices and enforcement.

Prohibit Discriminatory Vote Dilution and Voter Suppression

The MDVRA provides a framework to address vote dilution and barriers that deny voting opportunities in a way that is efficient and cost-effective for both voters and local governments within the state, through enforcement either by the State Attorney General or private plaintiffs.

Expand Language Access

The MDVRA would require local governments to ensure that people who don't speak english comfortably are not left behind in the voting process. This section requires that in a locality with a population of two percent or more that are a language minority, the local government or board of elections provides voting materials in that additional language. No voter should be discouraged from voting because the voting materials were not provided in a language they can understand.

Stop Voting Discrimination Before it Occurs

The MDVRA would bring the framework of the most effective civil rights law in American history to Maryland. In passing the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress recognized that case-by-case litigation alone was inadequate—too slow and too costly—to eradicate discrimination and to prevent its resurgence. Thus, instead of voters having to prove that new election laws and practices are discriminatory, jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination would need to have proposed election changes – such as redistricting –secure pre-approval or “preclearance” from the Maryland Attorney General or a court before they are enacted to demonstrate that the new systems will not disadvantage voters based on race.

Stop Voter Intimidation

This section provides Marylanders with a civil cause of action against voter intimidation, deception, or obstruction that is more important than ever today, given recent efforts to stoke fear, spread disinformation, and obstruct access to ballot box among eligible immigrant voters and communities of color.

Marylanders, Across Race and Party Lines, Support a MDVRA

Recent polling conducted by Impact Research on behalf of LDF shows that the MDVRA and each of its provisions are extremely popular among Maryland voters across race and party lines. 

For example, 81% of Maryland voters support a MDVRA, and 80% would like their state representative to prioritize its passage. 

The MDVRA Will Make Maryland a National Leader

The tremendous voter-suppression efforts that have arisen recently make this a perilous time for our democracy. With Congress, the federal Administration and courts, and too many states moving backwards on voting rights, the whole nation needs Maryland’s example. 

Momentum is growing, as several states — including California (2002), Washington (2018), Oregon (2019), Virginia (2021), New York (2022), Connecticut (2023), and Minnesota (2024) — have enacted State VRAs. Other states such as Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, FloridaMichigan, and New Jersey have made progress towards enacting similar legislation in recent years. These innovative statutes will remain important tools for fighting discrimination even after Congress restores the VRA to its full strength. 

If passed, the MDVRA will be one of the most comprehensive state-level voting rights acts in the country.

Now is the time for Maryland to pass the Maryland Voting Rights Act and cement its status as a national leader on voting rights.  

More on Voting Rights

Voting Rights

State VRAs can provide key protections to their constituents that prevent and guard against discriminatory voting practices and policies. Learn more about LDF’s work to advance state VRAs.

LDF Original Content

A tandem approach of restoring and expanding federal voting rights legislation along with passing individual state VRAs is essential for providing the most robust voting protections for all voters.

LDF Original Content

How States with discriminatory maps have shirked their responsibilities to their constituents, paving the way for the passage of oppressive legislation.

LDF Reports

Democracy Defended

In 2022, LDF conducted civic engagement, election monitoring, and advocacy efforts in seven southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Our monitoring and advocacy work identified that limitations on the ability of Black voters to access the ballot and have their votes counted remained a prominent factor in U.S. elections. This report incorporates just some of the data points and observations conveyed during elections in LDF’s target states in 2022.

2020 saw a dramatic increase in attempts to suppress the vote of Black, Latino, and other minority-community voters. Democracy Defended captures and analyzes LDF’s work during the 2020 election season in 10 states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas. The report provides documentation of barriers faced by Black voters and solutions for policy makers, election administrators, and community members to implement to ensure fair access to the vote in future elections.

LDF's Report on the 2020 Election

Democracy Defended

2020 saw a dramatic increase in attempts to suppress the vote of Black, Latinx, and other minority-community voters. Democracy Defended captures and analyzes LDF’s work during the 2020 election season, including our Prepared to Vote and Voting Rights Defender initiatives. It provides documentation of barriers faced by Black voters in PTV/VRD focus states and solutions for policy makers, election administrators, and community members to implement to ensure fair access to the vote in future elections.

Shares