CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 8/9/2023 1

Timely Overseas Ballots 

for State Elections in Maryland 

Doe v. Walker (Roger W. Titus, D. Md. 8:10-cv-2646) 

A federal complaint filed forty days before the 2010 general election 

alleged that absentee ballots had not been sent to overseas voters in 

time. It turned out that ballots listing only federal offices had already been sent out. The district judge extended the deadline for 

the state to receive ballots for state offices by ten days to preserve 

overseas voters’ fundamental rights to vote. 

Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: Absentee ballots; 

military ballots; Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

Act (UOCAVA). 

Forty days before the November 2, 2010, general election, a military voters’ 

rights group and Officer John Doe, who used a pseudonym “to protect his 

military mission,”1

 filed a federal complaint2 in the District of Maryland 

seeking enforcement of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA),3

 as amended by the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009 (MOVE Act),4

 which requires the sending of 

absentee ballots to overseas voters forty-five days before an election.5

Although the complaint sought preliminary injunctive relief,6 the plaintiffs did not file a motion for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary 

injunction.7 Maryland election officials filed a motion to dismiss the action 

or for summary judgment on October 9, two weeks and two days after the 

complaint was filed.8 On October 13, Judge Roger W. Titus set the case for 

hearing on October 22.9 The plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary re1. Doe v. Walker, 746 F. Supp. 2d 667, 671 n.2 (D. Md. 2010). 

2. Complaint, Doe v. Walker, No. 8:10-cv-2646 (D. Md. Sept. 23, 2010), D.E. 1; Doe, 746 

F. Supp. 2d at 672; see Andrea F. Siegel, Guardsman Sues Over Validity of Maryland’s Absentee Ballots, Balt. Sun, Sept. 27, 2010, at 2A. 

3. Pub. L. No. 99-410, 100 Stat. 924, as amended, 52 U.S.C. §§ 20301–20311. See generally

Robert Timothy Reagan, Overseas Voting: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

Voting Act (Federal Judicial Center 2016). 

4. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-84, 123 Stat. 

2190, 2318–35. 

5. See Doe, 746 F. Supp. 2d at 671. 

6. Complaint, supra note 2, at 15. 

7. Scheduling Order, Doe, No. 8:10-cv-2646 (D. Md. Oct. 13, 2010), D.E. 7. 

8. Motion, id. (Oct. 9, 2010), D.E. 6. 

9. Scheduling Order, supra note 7; see Transcript at 38, Doe, No. 8:10-cv-2646 (D. Md. 

Oct. 22, 2010, filed Nov. 9, 2010), D.E. 25 (“THE COURT: . . . I didn’t even know about this 

case until I saw [the] motion to dismiss and I said, whoops, there’s a prayer and that’s all for 

preliminary injunctive relief. If they want it, we’ve got to get something in front of me.”). 

Judge Titus died on March 3, 2019. Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, www.fjc.gov/history/judges; see Bart Barnes, Leggett’s Attorney in 

Lurid Lawsuit, Wash. Post, Mar. 8, 2019, at B5. 
Timely Overseas Ballots for State Elections in Maryland 

2 Federal Judicial Center 8/9/2023 

straining order and a preliminary injunction on October 18.10

At the hearing, it was established that the federal statutory claim was 

moot, because Maryland had sent timely absentee ballots to overseas voters 

on September 18 listing only federal offices up for election and then sent absentee ballots with all offices later, which overseas voters could cast as replacement ballots.11 The pressing question was how long after election day 

did Maryland have to accept the return of absentee ballots to preserve overseas voters’ constitutional voting rights.12

On October 29, Judge Titus issued a preliminary injunction requiring 

Maryland to count overseas absentee ballots received by November 22 if sent 

by election day.13

Judge Titus granted a stipulated dismissal of the case on January 3, 

2011.14

10. Motion, Doe, No. 8:10-cv-2646 (D. Md. Oct. 18, 2010), D.E. 9. 

11. Transcript, supra note 9; see Doe v. Walker, 746 F. Supp. 2d 667, 672 (D. Md. 2010). 

12. Transcript, supra note 9. 

13. Doe, 746 F. Supp. 2d 667; see Reagan, supra note 3, at 25–26. 

14. Dismissal, Doe, No. 8:10-cv-2646 (D. Md. Jan. 3, 2011), D.E. 34.