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2012 Election Wrap: All state and city ballot questions win

President Obama and incumbent Congressmen win handily.

November 7, 2012 at 7:32 am 4

It was 7 for 7 as Maryland voters approved all statewide ballot questions, including expanded gambling, same-sex marriage and the so-called “Dream Act.”

Oh, yes, Obama also won – grabbing 57% of the statewide total and a whopping 87% in Baltimore city.

It was the state ballot issues that stoked the greatest voter interest – and those relentless television attack ads – in Maryland and Baltimore.

Results posted at 6:26 this morning by the Maryland Board of Elections show the following with more than 99% of precincts reporting:

• 52.0% of Maryland voters approved a sixth casino, mostly likely located in National Harbor south of Washington, D.C., and expanded table games for already operating or authorized casinos, including in Baltimore (Question 7).

• 51.9% supported same-sex civil marriage, with Maryland joining Maine that also approved the measure yesterday (Question 6).

• 58.3% approved in-state college tuition rates for some undocumented immigrants (Question 4), dubbed the “Dream Act” by supporters.

Audits and Other City Amendments Pass

In Baltimore, all 13 charter amendments were approved, all by a wide margin, with Question A ($34 million in new school construction) and Question M (requiring every-fourth-year audits of major city agencies) winning by the highest totals.

There were no surprises in Congressional races in the Baltimore area, with the electoral grip of the Democratic Party showing no sign of loosening.

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin handily defeated both Daniel John Bongino, his Republican opponent, and the advertising bucks of independent S. Rob Sobhani.

U.S. Representatives Elijah Cummings, John Sarbanes and C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger were returned to Congress with better than 65% of the votes cast in their districts.

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  • trueheart4life

    BMore Poli-Tricks prevailed again …

  • cwals99

    CBS Election News commentator was a brave sole and actually broached the elephant in the room with this statement:  If 15% of people poll Congress as favorable, how does an election have almost all of the incumbents returning to office and he answered his own question…..because primary races are captured….challengers are locked out of the election process.  In Baltimore there was a complete blackout of the area primaries and the League of Women Voters could not get its video of a primary debate covered by any of Baltimore’s media outlets….not even linked to them.  Cardin for example has a 53% approval rating at the turn of the year and would have easily been beat by a challenger if Baltimore had a healthy primary election.

    The State of Maryland is taking increasingly prohibitive steps in the free and fair election process.  Two years ago the state passed a law prohibiting social media campaigning.  Now, if you have a media blackout the next thing to do is go to social media…..only now you can’t.  Combine that with the move towards online registration/voting which the New York Times and everyone else calls election fraud waiting to happen and you see that the people of Maryland have some work to do to reclaim democratic elections.  One thing about Obama’s reelection…..people can now complain about the policies without worrying that it might hurt Obama.

    • Barnadine_the_Pirate

      Cardin ran statewide. Incumbent senators are far more vulnerable to losing their seats than federal Representatives or state legislators, because they can’t benefit from a gerrymandered district. Cardin had at least two well-funded challengers in the general election. Whether “Baltimore” (I assume you mean the city) has a “healthy primary election” or not, Baltimore is only a part of the state and Cardin could have been challenged statewide in the primaries, too.

      I agree whole-heartedly that the entire country needs massive electoral reform, from the way districts are drawn to the way candidates are selected to the way votes are cast on election day, but Cardin’s re-election is not a good example of that.

      A far better example is the fact that the Democrats are significantly more popular, nationally, than Republicans, yet gerrymandering allows Republicans to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives (which should be MORE indicative of the popular vote than the Senate, not less) and which, furthermore, pushes individual candidates further and further to the right because they have only a primary challenge to fear.

  • discer

    The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

The Daily Drip

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