Voters to decide on constitutional convention question

ANNAPOLIS, MD - Maryland voters get one chance every 20 years to decide whether they want to hold a convention to rewrite the state's constitution, and the question is again before them on the ballot.

The threshold for approval isn't easy. It would need a majority from all voters who cast ballots in the election, not just a majority of voters who weigh in on the issue alone. It's a significant qualifier, because many voters often vote for offices at the top of the ballot and skip questions near the bottom.

Supporters of holding a convention say it could be an effective way of addressing government reforms that present conflicts of interest to elected officials, such as term limits or reducing lawmakers' roles in redrawing legislative districts.

"I think it's a checks and balances institution," said J.H. Snider, a political scientist from Severna Park who supports the ballot question and has written about its merit.

But there hasn't been a high-profile push to advertise specific reasons for holding one. While signs for political candidates abound along Maryland roads and television and radio ads prominently advertise campaigns, voters aren't seeing much public promotion for a constitutional convention.

Without a defined reason for convening one, voter Leslie Diamond, 50, decided against supporting the idea Tuesday evening while voting early in Annapolis.

"I had seen no publicity about it, seen no placards about it, and so I assumed no one cared, and I assumed that it was just a formality every 20 years," Diamond, of Annapolis, said.

But some voters are supporting the proposal even without a specifically defined purpose at this time, because they like the potential that it holds for Maryland citizens to have an opportunity to come together and propose some changes.

"You know, times change," said Tim McDowell, 43, after voting for it in Annapolis. "It might be appropriate."

Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Gov. Robert Ehrlich were asked during a debate last week if they supported the idea, but neither has done much to call attention to it.

Ehrlich, a Republican, said he believes the idea has "an upside," particularly in a state that has been dominated by a one-party Democratic "monopoly."

"An opportunity to modernize state government, an opportunity to engage in this process, might be beneficial to the state," Ehrlich said during the debate on Larry Young's WOLB-AM radio show.

"We'll see. It's something that has not been, quite frankly, a major issue in our campaign, but I think  people need to have an open mind about it."

O'Malley, a Democrat, said he believes a constitutional convention "can be a very positive thing." "If that's what people want to do then that's what we should do," O'Malley said.

Voters in Iowa, Michigan and Montana also are considering constitutional conventions.

If one were held in Maryland, 188 residents would be elected to be delegates to the convention -- one person for each delegate and senator in the Maryland General Assembly who represent the state's 47 legislative districts. It would be held in the statehouse in Annapolis, and the convention could last for months. The Maryland General Assembly would be required to pass enabling legislation to spell out how delegates would be elected and when the convention would occur. Voters would decide whether to approve or reject any changes to the constitution approved by delegates at the convention.

In 1930 and 1950, a majority of Maryland residents who voted on the question supported calling a convention, but they were not a majority of voters who cast ballots in those elections, so conventions were not held. In 1970 and 1990, there wasn't enough voter interest.

Maryland last held a constitutional convention after former Gov. John Millard Tawes pushed in 1967 to hold one. That was several years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Maryland's legislative districting violated the U.S. Constitution's one-person, one-vote requirement. In that convention,  delegates were chosen in a nonpartisan election.

While it was held out of sequence with the 20-year provision, the state's highest court ruled it was constitutional. Although the convention came up with changes, voters ended up rejecting them on the ballot. Many of the changes were later adopted in constitutional amendments.

Besides the constitutional convention question, there are two constitutional amendments before voters in Maryland.

One raises the minimum amount in which a party can request a jury trial in civil cases from $10,000 to $15,000. The other would require each of the three judges of the Orphans' Court for Baltimore City to be lawyers.