WASHINGTON — Three members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections have sent a letter to the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, asking it to clarify the rules on open meetings.
David Naimon, one of the three Democratic members of the Montgomery County Elections Board, says the county board’s bylaws are written so that a quorum — the number of members required for a meeting to be held — consists of a majority of the membership and at least one member of each political party on the board.
Naimon wants that clarified in light of comments made by James Shalleck, the Republican Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
At a recent Montgomery County Council committee hearing, Shalleck told council members that the three members of the elections board — all Republicans — spoke privately about a decision to move two early voting centers.
The board’s Democratic members weren’t included in those talks. That raised the question as to whether that violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
Naimon and his two Democratic colleagues — Mary Ann Keeffe and Graciela Rivera-Oven — signed the letter to the Open Meetings Compliance Board, asking for guidance on state regulations.
The revelation has led to protests from Montgomery County Council members — all of whom are Democrats. The State Board of Elections will take up the issue at its Oct. 15 meeting.
At issue is whether the new sites chosen by the county elections board meet the state standards for early voting centers.
Board of Elections members want clarification on open meetings law
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
