Early Voting Law Rejected

The Court of Appeals has just issued a decision rejecting the state's early voting law according to the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. I am curious to learn why the early voting law violates our state's constitution but not those of so many other states. Or perhaps it is something which can be fixed by modifying the original legislation. The Court has not yet released its opinion so this is unclear. If they uphold the lower court's ruling that elections must be held on one day, I don't see how absentee voting is legal. Hopefully, the Court's opinion will clarify their reasoning on all of these questions.

In any case, I don't buy the Republican claim that early voting inherently promotes fraud. If anything, one would think that reducing the lines on Election Day would make it easier to accurately check the registration of individuals and prevent problems. One doesn't have to be overly partisan to suspect that their real fear is that a high turnout would work to the disadvantage of their party. Of course, the Democrats think a high turnout will aid them too but they at least have the moral argument in favor of strengthening our democracy by encouraging participation on their side.

If it is constitutional issue, we should consider changing the Maryland Constitution to allow early voting, a practice which is now common in a majority of our sister states.