BALTIMORE — A Montgomery County Circuit judge on Friday ruled that elections officials could start counting mail-in votes before polls close on Election Day.
The decision stems from a lawsuit brought by the State Board of Elections, challenging a Maryland law that requires mail-in votes to be counted two days after an election.
Many blamed the law for delayed Primary election results back in July.
Officials had told the judge they would not reveal any early results until polls closed on Election Day, but that it would allow them to be caught up and avoid a backlog of votes.
The judge agreed and said counting could begin as soon as October 1, pending an appeal.
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This past General Assembly state lawmakers proposed a bill that would have changed the law, but it was vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan, who took a different tone following Friday's ruling.
"We welcome Judge Bonifant’s decision allowing the State Board of Elections to institute early canvassing for the general election, as I did in 2020 during the pandemic," Hogan said in a statement. "It worked well in that election, but partisan legislators dropped the ball on adopting our successful approach, making this step necessary."
Hogan was eluding to the 2020 General Election, when early canvasing was permitted in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, GOP Gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox was opposed to any changes.
MORE: Local boards start counting record high number of mail-in ballots
As of September 19, the Board of Elections have received 524,818 mail-in ballot requests for the upcoming November General Election.
"This ruling provides election officials with additional time to canvass and tabulate these ballots to ensure that all critical election-related deadlines established by law are met," said the State Board of Elections in response to the judge's order. "It also enables elections officials to return to a well-established process of canvassing mail-in ballots prior to Election Day, which was allowed in the 2020 General Election."
