Week in Review: 2/9-2/15

We are spending every Wednesday in Annapolis to understand what the Maryland General Assembly is doing. Most of our efforts are focused on elections and on the newly formed House Government, Labor, and Elections Committee, but occasionally we are looking at other legislation as well.

We have set up a page to keep track of all our testimony, and a YouTube playlist with video of our oral testimony at committee hearings.

This week we testified on seven bills: four oral and three written. We talked about all of them on this week's livestream.

Also this week, Andy joined Dayvon Love on Streets to the Statehouse to talk about alternatives to the two-party system and what a multiparty future could look like for Maryland voters.

HB 496: Open Primary Elections (Oral, Favorable) Maryland has nearly one million unaffiliated voters who are locked out of the primary elections that often decide the general election. HB 496 would let them vote in a party primary without being forced to register with that party. We argued this is a straightforward expansion of voter access that strengthens democracy without restructuring the primary process.

HB 499: Ballot Petition Modernization Act (Oral, Favorable) About 30% of signatures on ballot petitions get invalidated, not because signers are ineligible, but because the paper process is broken. HB 499 authorizes electronic signatures, creates a cure process so voters can fix technical errors, and modernizes name-matching standards. We testified from six years of direct experience with ballot petition policy in Maryland and nationally.

HB 568: Public Financing for Legislature (Oral, Favorable) We are the only active statewide candidates using Maryland's Fair Campaign Financing Fund. HB 568 would expand public financing to state delegate and senate races. We argued that public finance is one of the key tools for breaking the resource trap that keeps third parties and grassroots candidates from competing.

HB 584: Clean Maryland Democracy Amendment (Oral, Favorable) This constitutional amendment would enshrine clean elections protections in the Maryland constitution. We argued that the most important reason to put this on the ballot is that it forces a public conversation. Most Marylanders never think about how campaigns are funded or how money shapes who can run.

HB 52: Voting Rights for All Act (Written, Favorable) HB 52 restores voting rights for incarcerated Marylanders and creates a voter information hotline in state prisons. We argued that incarceration is political. Every person in a Maryland prison is there because of policy choices, and the people living under those policies should have a say in who makes them.

HB 188: Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (Written, Favorable With Amendments) HB 188 modernizes Maryland's unemployment insurance system. We testified from personal experience. Andy was laid off in June 2025 and is navigating the system firsthand while building a new business. We asked the committee to add Self-Employment Assistance provisions so displaced workers can use their benefits to start businesses instead of being punished for entrepreneurship. We also published an op-ed about this topic this week!

SB 236: Election Technology Certification (Written, Favorable) Maryland has no ongoing certification or review process for election technology: voting machines, tabulation systems, voter registration databases. SB 236 fixes that by requiring the State Board of Elections to certify, annually evaluate, and decertify systems that no longer meet standards. As Maryland explores ranked choice voting and other innovations, this framework is essential.

Andy Ellis is seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor of Maryland. Learn more at gogreen2026.com.