In an unusual step, the Maryland League of Women Voters has taken positions on the two constitutional amendment questions to appear on the November ballot. Known for its nonpartisan and unbiased voters’ guides and candidate forums, the League of Women Voters of Maryland makes it clear that our position in support of the early voting ballot question and our position in opposition to the slots ballot question are nonpartisan positions, based on league positions reached through member agreement after considerable study.
The league supports expanding voting opportunities through early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots, noting that what may seem like convenience issues for some are really voting access opportunities for others. The decision to have voting on a Tuesday in November for federal elections was adopted by Congress in 1845, at a time when women, African-Americans, poor people and Native Americans didn’t have the right to vote. It was a matter of convenience for white male farmers who wanted to vote after the harvest. Sunday was disallowed as a voting date because it was the Sabbath, and voting on Monday was rejected because some voters might have to travel on Sunday to reach their polling place by Monday. Times have changed, and we need to increase the opportunities to participate in our elections to meet modern circumstances. Seventy-five percent of women work outside the home, and both men and women have long commutes to work, often working in jurisdictions other than those in which they live and vote.
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Many have employment hours and child care arrangements that make it impossible to spend substantial time at a polling place near their home between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on a single day in the middle of the workweek.
In 1999, league members studied Maryland’s revenue structure and adopted principles to analyze and evaluate proposed changes to it. Gambling as a revenue source fails to meet several of our key principles, which include:
Equity/fairness – a graduated tax that will collect a greater percentage of money from those with higher incomes.
Compatibility with the state’s social and environmental policies – policies and tax structure should work toward the same ends, not at cross purposes.
Elasticity/natural grown – unlike income, sales and property taxes, gambling income will not necessarily yield additional revenue if the economy, inflation or population increases.
Based on the league’s fiscal policy positions, we find that using proceeds from gambling to fund government programs does not meet important principles of good government fiscal policy.
The league also opposes the slots referendum as a constitutional amendment based on a long-held position that the state constitution should be clear, concise and confined to fundamentals. Details of gambling locations and revenues are not fundamental aspects of governance and therefore should not be included in our state constitution.
We urge voters to educate themselves about these two constitutional amendment ballot questions, local ballot questions and candidates in the November election. Unbiased and nonpartisan voters’ guides for every jurisdiction in Maryland, including pro and con arguments for ballot questions, can be found at the league’s Web site www.lwvmd.org/vote.
The writer is president of the League of Women Voters of Maryland.
