Md. Primary Pushed Back To July 19

By Bennett Leckrone, Maryland Matters

March 15, 2022

The Maryland Court of Appeals pushed back the state’s primary election from June 28 to July 19, according to an announcement Tuesday afternoon.

The filing deadline for candidates, which had already been delayed once and was scheduled to be on March 22, has moved to April 15.

The change is a reflection of the uncertainty over political boundaries in dozens of elections across the state.

The announcement came as a trial for a pair of challenges against Maryland’s new congressional map kicked off in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Tuesday. A trial for petitions against the state’s legislative map is set to begin on March 23, with the special magistrate in that case intending to submit his report to the Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction, in early April.

Additionally, Baltimore County officials recently submitted a redrawn map after a judge ordered them to do so in a lawsuit against the Baltimore County Council’s redistricting plan — although that map still includes just one majority Black district out of seven and plaintiffs say it still doesn’t comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Just last week, the Court of Appeals threw out a redistricting map for Prince George’s County Council districts that the council itself had drawn, restoring the boundaries that had been put in place by an independent commission.

Earlier this year, as challenges to various redistricting plans made their way through the court system, the candidate filing deadline was pushed from Feb. 22 to March 22. With the filing deadline now set for April 15, the deadline to withdraw a certificate of candidacy has been pushed back to April 18, the deadline to fill a vacancy in candidacy has been pushed back to April 20, and the deadline to challenge a candidate’s residency has been pushed back to April 21.

This story will be updated.

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