Transgender Referendum Dies, Opponents Shift Focus

You can add the effort to force a law to the list of failed referendum efforts in Baltimore County.

Ann Miller, one of the leaders of a group focused on repealing the law at the ballot box, wrote in a email response to questions last week that "the petition effort did not meet the threshold, so it was not submitted to BOE on Monday.  This underscores the need for reform of the referendum requirements in the county."

"We are not skipping a beat as we move forward with the Charter Amendment petition and the two statewide Referendum petitions," wrote Miller, speaking of efforts to force the and plans to the ballot.

Miller, a Republican activist, said her group, which she described as grassroots, is now focused on changing the County Charter to .

The group has a website set up to provide information on the effort.

Baltimore County switched to its current form of government in 1956. There has never been a successful attempt to petition a county law to referendum.

Miller and others say that's because the bar is set too high.

The County Charter currently requires petitioners collect the signatures of registered county voters equivalent to 10 percent of the total number of county residents who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election—28,826 verified signatures, based on the 2010 election.

Petitioners have 45 days to collect the signatures. Some groups who have attempted to force laws to referendum say the process of getting petition language approved by the Board of Elections can take weeks.

The standard used by the county actually comes from the State Constitution which sets the number of signatures of registered voters needed for a statewide law at 3 percent but local laws require 10 percent.

Miller and her group want to see the local standard match the state standard.