A judge ruled against a Hancock early voting site. County commissioner plans to appeal

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it ain't over 'til it's over.

When the Maryland State Board of Elections declined this fall to approve a site in Hancock for an early voting center in next year's election, a group comprised of Hancock-area residents, county commissioners, members of the county's Republican Central Central Committee and the president of the Hagerstown Tea Party filed a suit against the elections board and its administrator, Jared Marinis.

An Anne Arundel County circuit judge ruled against them Wednesday, but the lead plaintiff said the group plans to appeal.

The case is Derek Harvey, et al v. Jared DeMarinis, et al, and the lead plaintiff told The Herald-Mail an appeal would be filed "before the end of the week."

How did we get here?

Washington County had two early voting sites for the 2022 mid-term elections: the Washington County Election Center at 17718 Virginia Ave., and the Fletcher Branch of the Washington County Free Library, both in the Hagerstown area.

After county officials complained the sites were too close together, the county Board of Elections proposed the Hancock Town Hall at 126 W. High St., and American Legion, Clopper-Michael Post 10 at 710 N. Main St., Boonsboro, as early voting centers for next year in addition to the Election Center on Virginia Avenue.

But when the sites were submitted to the state Elections Board for approval, only the Virginia Avenue and the Boonsboro sites were approved.

During its Oct. 26 meeting, a motion to approve the Hancock site failed for lack of a second.

Angela Battista, chairwoman of the Washington County Democratic Central Committee, in a written statement told the board that the Fletcher Branch, rather than the Hancock Town Hall, should remain as an early voting center.

The library "meets every criteria (sic) and legal requirement to ensure that historically disenfranchised voters have a convenient and local place to cast their ballots," she said.

Hagerstown holds the largest number of historically disenfranchised voters, she added. "Moving the early voting location away from Hagerstown to Hancock is a clear attempt at voter suppression," she said, "and I think it's motivated by racism with the intent to make it harder for people of color to vote."

Early voting, she said, is designed to make voting more accessible.

Washington County Election Director Barry Jackson told the board that there had been concerns by the local elections board even last year that the two sites were too close together, but that voting sites at that time were limited.

"They're only about a mile and a half away from each other," he said. "They almost overlap completely."

He noted that a suit had been filed by a member of the Republican Central Committee at that time, but it was dismissed. In the end, he said, 72% of Hagerstown's early voters came to the Election Center on Virginia Avenue while 18% voted at the library.

State board member Yaakov "Jake" Weissman expressed concerns about the small number of residents (about 3,100) who would have access to an early voting site in Hancock compared with the number who would have easy access to the library.

"I don't feel comfortable with the Hancock site," he said, and recommended accepting the other two sites but directing the county elections board to come back with another site.

Del. Brooke Grossman, D-Washington; Hagerstown City Council members Kristin Aleshire, Matthew Schindler and Tiara Burnett; Battista and Washington County NAACP President Taj Smith were among those filing letters with the board opposing the Hancock site, and the state board's staff determined it was not in compliance with state regulations because of the number of voters served.

Nevertheless, state board member Carlos Alberto Ayala moved to accept the site, but the motion died for lack of a second.

"They felt like there was a need for a place downtown, and then also their concern was that we were putting an early voting site out in Hancock where it only reached 3,100 voters. I think those were the concerns that they had," Jackson told The Herald-Mail.

"if I remember correctly, I think one of the state board members said that he empathized with the folks in the western part of the county having to travel 30 miles to go to one early voting site. But, you know, meanwhile, apparently they were more concerned about people having to travel 2 miles from downtown Hagerstown to Virginia Avenue."

But because no specific action was taken on the Hancock site, the state board conducted an emergency meeting Nov. 3 with only one item on the agenda: a vote on the Hancock site.

The board voted 3-2 not to approve the site.

Taking the case to court

An "emergency petition for election-related relief" was filed against DeMarinis and the State Board of Elections three days later in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. The plaintiffs included Washington County Commissioner Derek Harvey, Hancock-area residents Patrick Leone, John Cohill and Ashley McCusker (wife of Hancock Councilman Josh McCusker), Republican Central Committee Treasurer Michael Barnes, Hagerstown Tea Party President John Gundling and Hagerstown resident Thomas Thorsen.

Thorsen and Washington County Republican Central Committee President Seth Wilson had written to the board on the eve of the Nov. 3 vote in support of the Hancock site.

The full board of Washington County Commissioners joined the suit on Monday. The plaintiffs were represented by attorney Adam Greivell, who was appointed to the county Republican Central Committee last year.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Glenn L. Klavans ruled Wednesday in favor of the State Elections Board, however.

Harvey was undeterred.

"Our interest was in assuring voter process integrity," he told The Herald-Mail. "And we had a bipartisan decision by the local election board to choose Hancock and the Virginia Avenue site as the two primary early voting sites based upon an exhaustive examination of all of the criteria factors and requirements of the state.

"And the decision of that bipartisan board, after looking at everything, was that the most inclusive, equitable approach to the early voting site was to select Virginia Avenue, Hancock, and the third site, Boonsboro."

Harvey maintained that county board's plan gave the highest number of voters access to early voting sites.

While the state board cited the small number of voters served by the Hancock site, Harvey and Jackson both noted that areas served by the Fletcher Branch site and the Election Center overlap each other.

Harvey said the appeal would be filed by Friday; Greivell had not returned messages by press time to confirm that.

Jackson told The Herald-Mail he believed the plaintiffs have until Wednesday to file an appeal, but he had not heard whether they would.

But even if they didn't, he said, "this is not over by a longshot."

The Washington County Board of Elections is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Election Center, and he expects the early voting center to be on the agenda.

Hancock out? Location of early voting site in Washington County still being determined

Boonsboro early voting site for 2024 gets county's blessing, awaits state approval

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Commissioner says ruling against Hancock voting site will be appealed