Republican candidates ask judge to block Maryland primary certification

Natalie Jones, The Baltimore Sun on Jun 24, 2026

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BALTIMORE — A group of Republican candidates, a voter, and an election-integrity organization are asking an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to stop the state from certifying primary election results until election officials contact every voter whose original ballot was rejected and allow them to correct the problem.

The lawsuit, filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court against the Maryland State Board of Elections, comes a month after state election officials acknowledged that some Maryland voters were mistakenly mailed ballots for the wrong political party and sent replacement ballots to affected voters.

The ballot error affected voters who requested physical mail-in ballots for the June 23 primaries.

The Maryland State Board of Elections said its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions Inc. (TPVI), mailed some of the voters’ ballots for the wrong political party, but the administrator said the board’s vendor couldn’t identify which voters received erroneous ballots. Over 500,000 Maryland voters had requested mail-in ballots, most of them in Montgomery, Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties, and Baltimore City.

Election officials subsequently issued replacement ballots and instructed voters to use them, while maintaining that properly completed original ballots would still be counted if no replacement ballot was returned.

The plaintiffs argue that additional safeguards are needed before primary results become final. Specifically, they are asking the court to delay certification of the primary election until at least 48 hours after election officials have contacted every voter whose ballot was rejected.

The Republican candidates listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit include four House of Delegates candidates: Sallie Taylor, Robin Grammer, Kevin Ford and Jeffry McDonald; state Senate candidates Kevin Ford and Adam Wood; Baltimore County Councilman and candidate Nino Mangione, Baltimore County executive candidate Patrick Dyer; and Cheryl Riley, who sought election to Maryland’s 8th congressional district. Also included are Montgomery County voter Brigitta Mullican and Maryland Election Integrity, a limited liability corporation that the suit says “advocates for honest and open elections.”

What to know about the requested relief

Beyond the certification issue, the lawsuit seeks greater public visibility into how election officials handled the disputed ballots. The plaintiffs are asking the court to require the State Board of Elections to publicly disclose details of the “original ballot process” scheduled for July 6, including livestreaming ballot canvassing activities in every county and providing an accounting of original ballots, replacement ballots, accepted ballots and rejected ballots.

The complaint also seeks records related to the ballot error itself. Plaintiffs are asking the court to order the preservation and production of communications between election officials and ballot vendors, error logs and other records related to the ballots that were mistakenly sent to some voters.

C. Edward Hartman, an Annapolis-based attorney, is representing the plaintiffs in the case. Hartman previously represented Dan Cox, now the Republican nominee for governor, as Cox sought to change the mail-in ballot process in 2022.

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