As Maryland families head into another hot summer, many are about to receive an unpleasant reminder of just how badly some state leaders failed to address Maryland’s growing energy problems this year.

Higher energy bills are not coming by accident. They are the predictable result of years of poor planning and a continued refusal by Democratic leadership in Annapolis to confront the real issue facing our state: Maryland does not produce enough electricity to meet its own growing energy needs.

Instead of seriously addressing that challenge during this year’s legislative session, Democratic leaders celebrated passage of the so-called Utility Relief Act (House Bill 1532), which offers Marylanders roughly $12 in savings per month. At a time when families are facing soaring energy costs driven by a massive shortage of reliable in-state power generation, that is not meaningful relief. It is a political talking point designed to avoid the larger conversation Maryland desperately needs to have.

Our state imports nearly half of the electricity it uses. Nearly half of the power keeping homes cool, businesses operating and communities functioning every day comes from outside our borders. Yet even as demand for electricity continues to rise, Maryland continues falling behind on building the reliable generation capacity needed to support our future.

That is not a serious long-term strategy.

Families across Maryland are already struggling with inflation, rising housing costs and economic uncertainty. Energy bills are becoming another major financial burden for working families, seniors and small businesses. But instead of focusing on increasing reliable power supply, meaning fully lowering consumer costs, and strengthening Maryland’s long-term energy security, Annapolis continues offering temporary fixes that fail to address the underlying problem.

The reality is simple: Maryland needs more power generation, and every responsible energy source should be part of the conversation. Natural gas, nuclear, renewables, battery storage, clean coal and emerging technologies all have a role to play in creating a more reliable and affordable energy future for our state.

Maryland also needs a broader conversation about the role experienced infrastructure providers and utilities can play in strengthening reliability and supporting future generation needs. These are organizations that already manage the systems Marylanders depend on every day and understand the long-term planning required to maintain dependable service.

Reliable and affordable energy is not a partisan issue. It is a basic requirement for economic growth, business investment and everyday quality of life.

As summer begins and air conditioners start running around the clock, Maryland families will once again be reminded that energy policy decisions made in Annapolis have real world consequences.

Unfortunately, they are paying for those consequences every month.

Del. Jason Buckel is the Minority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates and represents Allegany County in the Maryland General Assembly.

MARYLAND (WBFF) — A group of Republican candidates, a voter, and an election-integrity organization are asking an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to stop the state from certifying primary election results until election officials contact every voter whose original ballot was rejected and allow them to correct the problem.

The lawsuit, filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court against the Maryland State Board of Elections, comes a month after state election officials acknowledged that some Maryland voters were mistakenly mailed ballots for the wrong political party and sent replacement ballots to affected voters.

The ballot error affected voters who requested physical mail-in ballots for the June 23 primaries.

The Maryland State Board of Elections said its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions Inc. (TPVI), mailed some of the voters’ ballots for the wrong political party, but the administrator said the board’s vendor couldn’t identify which voters received erroneous ballots. Over 500,000 Maryland voters had requested mail-in ballots, most of them in Montgomery, Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties, and Baltimore City.

Read the full story on The Baltimore Sun.

Maryland and New York held primary elections this week, with several open seats attracting large and competitive fields. However, those crowded fields caused a problem. Winners of several key races were backed by only a small share of voters; in one case, just 32% of voters supported the nominee.

Maryland and New York could solve their plurality problem by adopting ranked choice voting (RCV) – a reform that gives voters more choice, and ensures the winners of elections have majority support.

Plurality winners in the Maryland primary

When votes are spread between many candidates, winners can emerge with less than majority support. For example, nearly two dozen candidates ran to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. Hoyer was the second-ranking Democrat in the House for two decades, and according to Baltimore-based political scientist Jé St Sume:

Whoever wins this primary will do more than fill an open seat… They will help shape the Democratic Party’s direction heading into November and, potentially, the 2028 presidential cycle.

However, when “choose one” elections do not produce majority winners, it can be unclear whether the winners best reflect the preferences of voters, or simply benefitted from the way votes were split among candidates. On Tuesday, Maryland State Delegate Adrian Boafo won with just 32% of the vote – meaning 68% of voters picked someone else. 

Nearby Montgomery County – the most populous county in Maryland – had three primaries where no candidate earned support from a majority of voters. Most notably, the Democratic primary for Montgomery County executive – a critically important role as chief executive of this million-person county – was won with 41% of the vote. This marks the third Democratic primary in a row for this seat in which the winner lacked majority support – and in which the margin between the top two candidates was dwarfed by the number of votes for lower-performing candidates.

Margins of victory in recent Democratic Montgomery County executive primaries

Maryland’s 6th Congressional District also saw notable plurality wins on Tuesday. The Democratic and Republican primaries saw winners emerge with just 44% and 43% of the vote, respectively.

Plurality winners in the New York primary

New York State also held primary elections yesterday, and Rep. Jerry Nadler’s retirement drew a crowded Democratic field in the 12th Congressional District. New York Assembly Member Micah Lasher won that primary with 39% of the vote. His closest competitor had 35%, and other candidates totaled 26% of the vote. 

Boafo and Lasher are heavily favored to win their deep-blue seats in November, meaning a fraction of a fraction of the electorate is effectively choosing the next representatives for their entire districts. Overall on Tuesday, there were six congressional primaries in Maryland and three in New York State in which winners are on track to emerge without majority support from their party.

Ranked choice voting lets more voters be heard

Ranked choice voting would solve this problem, ensuring nominees have support from a majority of their party. With RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one has a majority of votes, the lowest-performing candidates are eliminated until a candidate reaches 50% support. 

Voters can vote honestly, without worrying about whether their favorite candidate has a chance to win. If your top choice is eliminated, your vote counts for your next choice. In this year’s Montgomery County executive primary, for example, the nearly 23,000 voters who cast a ballot for a lower-performing candidate would have been able to weigh in between the two frontrunners.

Many voters across both states have already embraced this idea. New York City uses RCV in its local primaries, and 76% of voters say they want to keep or expand RCV. Takoma Park, MD also uses RCV in local elections. The Montgomery County, MD delegation to the state legislature has repeatedly sponsored legislation to allow RCV in its County Council elections.

Maryland and New York are well positioned to expand the use of RCV, and deliver more representative outcomes across state and local contests. To learn more, visit Ranked Choice Voting Maryland and Common Cause New York.