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After an unconventional 2020 election which saw unprecedented absentee ballot use, Maryland lawmakers instituted a slew of election reforms during the 2021 legislative session.
Those measures include permanently expanding mail-in voting, ramping up the number of early voting centers and making voting materials more accessible to students and military voters – far cries from the restrictive voting measures being put in place by other states.
Restrictive voting laws enacted in other states have recently been a flashpoint in Congress: During a Tuesday U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, senators discussed restoration of a key section in the Voting Rights Act that would prevent states, mostly in the South, from changing their election laws without federal approval.
Hogan, Lawmakers Hail Bipartisanship As COVID Relief Package Clears Senate - Across Maryland, MD - Just after the state Senate unanimously passed a $1.5 billion COVID-19 relief bill, Hogan Jr., called it a "Bipartisan Alert," in part.
Lawmakers return to Annapolis for start of unusual 90-day session
Plus: Most popular Montgomery County Public Library books of 2020; Health officials urge reluctant first responders to get vaccine Bethesda Beat Staff |
January 14, 2021
Lawmakers return to Annapolis for start of unusual 90-day session
Maryland lawmakers convened under bizarre and “surreal” circumstances in Annapolis Wednesday, launching a 90-day General Assembly session unlike any other in its history.
In the House, Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) offered a prayer to a nearly vacant chamber. [Washington Post]
Most popular Montgomery County Public Library books of 2020
Montgomery County Public Libraries has announced its most popular adult fiction and nonfiction books that were borrowed in 2020.