This Monday’s Mayor and Council agenda contains a number of what I think are interesting items; two of these items are down at the bottom, under segment fourteen, “FROM THE ASSISTANT CITY MANAGERS, CITY ATTORNEY AND OTHER STAFF”. One of these items (I’ll mention the other in a later post) is entitled “Guidance on a Memorandum Dated July 5, 2007 Concerning a Proposed Amendment to Section 27 of the City Charter”. Ostensibly, this is the first step in introducing an amendment to the City charter to delete the provision for a City-specific voter registry, as this registry is no longer is in use — since 1977 Gaithersburg has allowed for the use the County’s registry and at this point there is no one on the City’s registry.
However, the impetus for this change is what is interesting. During the May 7, 2007 meeting of the Mayor and Council, Susan Payne and Demos Chrissos raised the question of illegal immigrants on the City’s voter registration rolls; you’ll find their appearances starting at about 41:48 into the video. Apparently the Board of Supervisors of Elections was asked whether there was any mechanism in place to prevent this. The answer was contained in a memo from Joan More of the Board, who stated that the registration application requires the applicant to sign, under penalty of perjury, a statement that, among other things, they are U.S. Citizens. The memo sort of tosses this off as thus being a non-issue, and focuses more on eliminating the provision for a City-specific registry. I’ve transcribed the memo below (this was another OCR’d PDF, so I had to make a number of corrections; the original PDF can be found here). The memo refers to “Section 3-202(a)(i) of the Elections Law of the Annotated Code of Maryland”. I’ve also pulled in section 3-202 of the State Code, it can be found after the memo. The relevant section states that the application shall:
require the signature of the applicant, subject to the penalties of perjury, by which the applicant swears or affirms that the information contained in the registration application is true and that the applicant meets all of the qualifications to become a registered voter
I did pull up a copy of the Maryland voter registration form, and it (at least the English-language version) does at least include the citizenship requirement in the text. However, it does seem that all illegal immigrants need to do in order to register to vote is to perjure themselves.
Following is the memo from Joan More:
MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Joan More
Board of Supervisors of ElectionsDATE: June 6 2007 SUBJECT: Election Registration As you may recall, during the Monday, May 7, 2007 regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council a resident request was made as to whether there is a system in place to insure that individuals who register to vote are United States citizens.
Prior to 1977, residents had to register with the City to participate in City elections. In 1977, the Mayor and City Council amended the City Charter to provide that “any person who has domicile within the City may register to vote in City elections by registering to vote in Montgomery County elections…”
As late as the mid 1990’s there were still a few City residents who remained on the City’s voter registry who were not registered to vote with Montgomery County Board of Elections; however, at this point, there is no one on the City’s voter registry.
Given that the City no longer has a voter registry, staff contacted Paul Valette who is the Election Operations Manager for the Montgomery County Board of Elections to determine if there is a system in place to insure individuals who are registered to vote are United States citizens. Mr. Valette informed staff that individuals registering to vote are required to sign a statement under the penalties of perjury that, among other things, they are United States citizens. This signed application is required pursuant to Section 3-202(a)(i) of the Elections Law of the Annotated Code of Maryland. No additional verification of citizenship is required or undertaken by the Board of Elections
For your review, I have attached the applicable section of State law and a copy of the Maryland Voter Registration Application.
During the course of discussing this issue, the Board realized that it may be appropriate for the Mayor and City Council to consider amending the City Charter to eliminate the language that permits residents to register at City Hall. As stated above, no one is currently registered with the City and the prospect of maintaining a separate list in the future does not seem to make sense.
I hope this information is helpful. Assistant City Manager Felton will be seeking guidance on the concept of pursuing a Charter Amendment during the July 9 Mayor and City Council meeting
jm/sp
Attachments
cc: David B. Humpton, City Manager Frederick J. Felton Assistant, City Manager
And here is Section 3-202 of the Annotated Code of Maryland:
§ 3-202. Voter registration applications.
(a) Statewide voter registration application.-
(1) The statewide voter registration application shall:
(i) require the signature of the applicant, subject to the penalties of perjury, by which the applicant swears or affirms that the information contained in the registration application is true and that the applicant meets all of the qualifications to become a registered voter;
(ii) state the penalties for the submission of a false application; and
(iii) provide the applicant with the opportunity to cancel a current registration.
(2) The following information shall be made available to each applicant who is completing a statewide voter registration application:
(i) the qualifications to become a registered voter;
(ii) if an individual declines to register, this fact will remain confidential and be used only for voter registration purposes;
(iii) if an individual registers to vote, the office at which the application is submitted will remain confidential and will be used only for voter registration purposes; and
(iv) notification to the applicant that submission of the form to an individual other than an official, employee, or agent of a local board does not assure that the form will be filed or filed in a timely manner.
(3) The statewide voter registration application may not require:
(i) notarization or other formal authentication; or
(ii) any additional information, other than the information necessary to enable election officials to determine the eligibility of the applicant and to administer voter registration and other parts of the election process.
(4) (i) A statewide voter registration application shall be produced exclusively by the State Board.
(ii) No other registration form may be used for registration purposes except:
1. a voter registration application produced by a local board with the approval of the State Board;
2. as provided in subsection (b) of this section;
3. as provided in § 3-203(b) of this subtitle;
4. any other form prescribed by federal law for voter registration; or
5. a federal write-in absentee ballot if used by a voter authorized to vote a federal write-in absentee ballot under federal law.
(b) National voter registration application.- The voter registration application form prescribed pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 shall be accepted by the appropriate election official for purposes of voter registration.
(c) Change of name, address, or party affiliation using voter registration applications.- The application described in this section may be used by a registered voter to change the voter’s name, address, or party affiliation.
[An. Code 1957, art. 33, § 3-202; 2002, ch. 291, §§ 2, 4; 2004, ch. 19; 2006, ch. 354.]