Spending on ballot questions highest in Maryland’s history
According to data compiled by iSolon.org and VotersEdge.org from the Maryland State Board of Elections website, ballot issue committees have raised $51.3 million to spend on Maryland’s statewide gambling question, Question 7. This is not only the largest amount spent on a single ballot proposition in Maryland’s history; it exceeds the previous record by 51%. The previous record, set in the 2006 gubernatorial contest between Martin O’Malley and Robert L. Ehrlich, was $34 million.
As of October 18, 2012, the aggregate amount received for all seven statewide questions is $57.4 million. The amounts raised for the other questions include $4.6 million for the Civil Marriage Protection Act, Question 6, and $1.5 million for the Tuition Rates (“Dream Act”), Question 4. The remaining four questions received negligible contributions.
Questions 4, 5, and 6 were placed on the ballot as a result of citizen petitions. Questions 1, 2, 3, and 7 were placed on the ballot by the General Assembly. Maryland’s Constitution requires that question 7, which includes the General Assembly’s proposed change in legal gambling venues, must be approved in a statewide referendum.
Launched on October 8, 2012, VotersEdge.org/Maryland provides an information clearinghouse for voters on the seven statewide ballot questions on the November 6, 2012 ballot. VotersEdge.org provides a national information clearinghouse on ballot questions. iSolon.org is VotersEdge.org's Maryland partner.
Amy Leahy
3:17 pm on Monday, October 29, 2012
I was working the polls at Severna Park Library yesterday with a young man and woman (college students) who were getting paid $80 each to hand out literature supporting all 7 ballot questions. They were hired by the Question 7 ballot people and I know the young man was not in favor of all of them personally. But hey...a job is a job.