While it appeared yesterday that Maryland voters had surprised us all by approving a constitutional convention, which would have made them the first state to hold a constitutional convention in over 20 years, it appears that is not the case.
Why the confusion? It lies in the vote threshold a ballot measure must achieve in order to pass. In most states, it's a simple majority of the ballots cast on the measure. But in Maryland and a handful of other states, the measure must receive votes from a majority of those voting in the election.
According to the current tally, 1,737,134 ballots were cast in the governor's race, but only 1,544,826 of those voters also cast a vote on the constitutional convention question. Therefore, in order to be approved, the constitutional convention question would have to have received at least 868,568 "yes" votes. It received 843,273. While that is a majority of the 1,544,826 votes cast on the question, it is not a majority of the 1,737,134 votes cast in the election.
So it appears now that Maryland will not be the next state to hold a constitutional convention after all.
which would have made them the first state to hold a constitutional convention in over 20 years, it appears that is not the case.
Posted by: Ugg Cardy | 01/11/2011 at 11:49 PM