Maryland’s longtime elections administrator is retiring. Linda Lamone, who is 80, announced her plans to retire during a Maryland State Elections Board meeting on Wednesday. Lamone has been the state’s elections administrator since 1997. She said she will step down around Sept. 1. The state administrator of elections is the chief election official in Maryland. The administrator oversees the functions of the state elections board and supervises the operations of local boards of elections. The administrator also receives and audits financial reports of candidates. The administrator is appointed by the five-member state board with consent of the state Senate.
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Latest election news
A federal judge has ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence will have to testify before a grand jury in the federal probe into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. That’s according to two people familiar with the ruling, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it remains under seal. The people said, however, that Pence would not have to answer questions about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building as Pence was presiding over a joint session of Congress to certify the vote. Pence and his attorneys had cited constitutional grounds in challenging the subpoena.
The city of Frederick and a local women’s civic group will host a talk Wednesday on women in Maryland who fought for the right to vote.
A Frederick County Board of Education committee on Wednesday discussed the district’s policy on political activity after receiving a complaint about flyers placed in employees’ work mailboxes shortly before the 2022 election.
Four people are running in Walkersville’s second special election this year to fill former Commissioner Michael Bailey’s vacant seat.
Compensation for elected officials, the city's budget process, and a process for introducing and passing legislation are among the topics that could be changed as a committee appointed by the mayor reviews the city's charter.
Allies of former President Donald Trump have filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis of violating campaign finance and ethics rules by running a shadow bid for the White House. DeSantis is a leading potential 2024 primary rival to Trump. DeSantis' office calls it a “frivolous and politically motivated” charge. The complaint from the MAGA Inc. super PAC asks the commission to investigate DeSantis for allegedly “leveraging his elected office and breaching his associated duties in a coordinated effort to develop his national profile, enrich himself and his political allies, and influence the national electorate.”
Two candidates have filed to run for Walkersville’s second special election for Town Council this year, which will be held on April 18, according to the town.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally set the country’s parliamentary and presidential elections for May 14. That's a month earlier than scheduled despite the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that killed about 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. Erdogan is seeking to extend his two decades in power, and the elections will determine whether Turkey continues on the increasingly authoritarian course set by the strongman politician. He has ruled over Turkey since 2003. The upcoming elections could present him with his biggest electoral challenges. The country is struggling with a troubled economy, soaring inflation and the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that killed more than 46,000 people. Erdogan made the announcement on Friday.
A former White House official who helped implement Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies has broken ranks with the former president. He is instead encouraging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to pursue the presidency in 2024. Ken Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia, was a top official at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s single term in office. He was a vehement defender of the administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration. But on Thursday, Cuccinelli announced he is launching Never Back Down PAC, a new political action committee that will support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ potential 2024 presidential run.
Scores of wealthy donors and corporations — from investment managers and energy companies to Baltimore’s sports teams and NBA star Kevin Durant — came out of the woodwork to help Gov. Wes Moore raise a whopping $4.6 million for his inauguration in January, a new public disclosure shows.
A $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News for its coverage of false claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election isn’t the only thing putting pressure on the standard for U.S. libel law. Two politicians popular with Fox’s audience, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have advocated for the Supreme Court to revisit the libel standard that has protected media organizations for more than half a century. Current libel law requires plaintiffs to prove that a news organization acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Fox is using that standard to defend its actions that promoted false claims of voter fraud.
Former Vice President Mike Pence isn't saying whether he'd back Donald Trump if Trump were to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. Pence is widely expected to seek the nomination himself, and he's suggesting that Trump's leadership style isn’t what the Republican Party needs in the upcoming White House race. Pence says in an Associated Press interview that he thinks “we'll have better choices.” He also say he'll make a decision ”by this spring" about whether he'll be running. Pence says Trump was at the right moment in 2016 when he won, but that “we live in a different time and it calls for different leadership.”
Walkersville will host a special election to fill former Commissioner Michael Bailey’s seat on April 18.
Walkersville will hold a second special election to fill another vacancy on the Town Commission, according to Town Manager Sean Williams.
Michael McNiesh has been elected to return to his former seat as a Walkersville commissioner, according to unofficial results from Monday's town election.
Four of the five Walkersville candidates running for a vacant commissioner seat fielded questions during a forum Saturday night. A proposed FoodPro distribution center dominated the conversation at times.
Five people are running in Monday's special election in Walkersville to fill a vacant commissioner seat.
The committee reviewing Frederick's charter will break its deliberations down into several groups of related topics as it consider the rules of the city's government.
Frederick’s charter review committee is examining the city’s governing document.
The Frederick County Democratic Central Committee is seeking applicants for four-year terms on the county’s Board of Elections.
The Frederick County Board of Elections is moving from Montevue Lane to Riverside Five, adjacent to the 177-acre Riverside Research Park in Frederick, according to a press release.
A few days before registered Thurmont voters decide on a controversial annexation, developer Daniel Cross — whose proposed project hinges on the annexation — held a meeting with residents on Thursday.
In one of his final acts as a Walkersville commissioner, Michael Bailey on Wednesday introduced a resolution that would tighten language in the town charter on phone participation and absences for the burgess and commissioners.
Walkersville will hold a candidate forum on Feb. 11 for residents to get to know candidates running in the Feb. 13 special election to fill a vacant council seat.
