College of Public Affairs Officials: MD Election a 'Testament' to Citizens and 'Great for Politics'; Now Look for 'Big Changes' in City Governance
November 5, 2020
Contact: Office of Government and Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
In back-to-back articles in The Baltimore Sun, University of Baltimore College of Public Affairs Dean Roger Hartley and Executive in Residence John Willis assess the state of Maryland and Baltimore politics, and pronounce the political and electoral process in good shape.
Following months of concern that the COVID-19 pandemic would wreak havoc on the state's November election, Hartley and Willis say that all signs point to a system for both voting and tallying votes that was fair and effective.
According to the Sun, "more than 1.3 million Marylanders voted via mail-in ballots ahead of the election, another 983,300 showed up for early voting and nearly 474,800 voted on Election Day." That's a total of at least 2.8 million votes, or nearly 70 percent of Maryland's registered voters. Even more mail-in and provisional ballots are still to be counted, the newspaper noted.
"It looks like it worked extremely well,” Dean Hartley said. "I think it's a testament to the citizens of the state to figure out how it worked. There was a lot to figure out there for the average voter."
Hartley singled out for praise the use of emails by state election administrators to communicate with those who asked for mail-in ballots.
"I think given the back and forth of different styles of voting and the amount of time they had to adjust ... it was pretty stunning, to be honest," Hartley told the Sun.
The college's John Willis, executive in residence and former Maryland secretary of state, also reacted favorably to the reworked process for voting.
"It was great for politics. I think it was a good experiment," Willis said in the article.
For Baltimore, Hartley says the election of a new generation of leaders is a sign of progress in governance.
"There's really a sweeping in of a new guard," he said. "We're going to see some energy and big changes."
Read Dean Hartley's and Prof. Willis's comments in Sun coverage about Maryland's election and Baltimore's new leadership.
Learn more about The University of Baltimore's College of Public Affairs.