Title: Emergency Remedy of Bd. of Elections

State: maryland

Issuer: Maryland Supreme Court

Document:

Circuit Court for Montgomery County 
Case No. C-15-CV-22-003258 
Argued: October 7, 2022 
 
 
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS 
 
OF MARYLAND 
 
No. 21 
 
September Term, 2022 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IN RE: PETITION FOR EMERGENCY 
REMEDY BY THE MARYLAND STATE 
BOARD OF ELECTIONS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fader, C.J., 
Watts 
 
Hotten 
 
Booth 
 
Biran 
 
Eaves 
Adkins, Sally D.  
(Senior Judge, Specially Assigned) 
  
JJ. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PER CURIAM ORDER 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Filed:  October 7, 2022
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* 
IN THE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* 
COURT OF APPEALS 
IN RE: PETITION FOR EMERGENCY 
 
REMEDY BY THE MARYLAND 
 
* 
OF MARYLAND 
STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* 
COA-REG-0021-2022 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* 
No. 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* 
September Term, 2022 
 
 
 
 
 
PER CURIAM ORDER 
 
Upon consideration of the filings by Daniel Cox, Appellant, and the Maryland State 
Board of Elections (the “State Board”), Appellee, and oral argument conducted in the 
above-captioned case on October 7, 2022, 
WHEREAS, on September 2, 2022, the State Board filed in the Circuit Court for 
Montgomery County a Petition for Emergency Remedy by the Maryland State Board of 
Elections in which the State Board petitioned the circuit court pursuant to § 8-103(b)(1) of 
the Election Law Article of the Maryland Code for an emergency remedy permitting the 
early canvassing and tabulation of mail-in ballots for the 2022 Gubernatorial General 
Election; and 
WHEREAS, on September 14, 2022, Appellant filed in the Circuit Court for 
Montgomery County a motion to intervene and a response in opposition to the petition and 
a memorandum in support thereof, and on September 16, 2022, the Circuit Court for 
Montgomery County granted Appellant’s Motion to Intervene; and 
WHEREAS, on September 26, 2022, after a hearing, the Circuit Court for 
Montgomery County entered an Opinion and Order, in which the court:  (1) granted the 
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Petition for Emergency Remedy by the State Board; and (2) ruled that it did “not find the 
provisions of § 8-103(b)(1) of the Election Law Article to be unconstitutional” and that 
“the undisputed facts of this case amount[ed] to emergency circumstances envisioned in 
the law”; and 
WHEREAS, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County ordered the following: 
that the restriction imposed by [Election Law Article (“EL”)] § 11-
302(a), requiring each local board to meet “[f]ollowing an election” in order 
to canvass mail-in ballots was suspended from application to the 2022 
Gubernatorial General Election,  
that the restriction imposed by EL § 11-302(b)(1), forbidding a local 
board of canvassers from opening “any envelope of an absentee ballot prior 
to 8 a.m. on the Wednesday following election day” was suspended from 
application to the 2022 Gubernatorial General Election,  
that all local boards of canvassers may meet and open envelopes, 
canvass, and tabulate mail-in ballots no earlier than 8:00 a.m. on October 1, 
2022,  
that the requirement imposed by EL § 11-302(e), directing each local 
board to “prepare and release a report of the unofficial results of the absentee 
ballot vote tabulation” at the end of each day of canvassing was suspended 
from application to the 2022 Gubernatorial General Election, and 
that all local boards of election may prepare and release an unofficial 
report of the mail-in ballot tabulation no earlier than the closing of the polls 
on election day, November 8, 2022, and thereafter at the end of each day of 
canvassing, 
 
and 
WHEREAS, on September 27, 2022, Appellant noted an appeal to the Court of 
Special Appeals and sought a stay of the circuit court’s order and an expedited schedule 
for resolving the appeal; and 
WHEREAS, on September 28, 2022, the State Board filed in this Court a Petition 
for Writ of Certiorari and Request for Expedited Review; and 
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WHEREAS, on September 29, 2022, the Court of Special Appeals issued an order 
denying Appellant’s motion for stay; and 
WHEREAS, on September 30, 2022, Appellant filed in this Court a response to the 
State Board’s petition for writ of certiorari in which he agreed that the petition should be 
granted; and 
WHEREAS, on September 30, 2022, this Court granted the petition for writ of 
certiorari and ordered expedited briefing; and 
WHEREAS, on October 7, 2022, this Court held oral argument,  
For reasons to be stated later in an opinion to be filed, it is this 7th day of October, 
2022, 
ORDERED, by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, that the Opinion and Order 
entered on September 26, 2022 by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County are 
AFFIRMED in all respects; and it is further 
ORDERED, that costs are to be paid by Appellant and the mandate is to issue 
forthwith. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     /s/ Matthew J. Fader 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
              Chief Judge 
 
 
Pursuant to Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal 
Materials Act 
(§§ 10-1601 et seq. of the State Government Article) this document is authentic. 
 
 
 
 
 
Suzanne C. Johnson, Clerk 
2022-10-07 15:17-04:00