Maryland's primary elections are unconstitutional, lawsuit alleges [View all]
About 10 years ago, Dona Sauerburger, a longtime Maryland Democrat disillusioned with America’s two-party system, decided to become an independent voter.
But that choice, she said, was immediately disenfranchising because Maryland residents who register as unaffiliated with a political party are not allowed to vote in primary elections. So for years, Sauerburger protested outside primary polling places and advocated for change before state lawmakers in Annapolis — without success.
Now she is taking her fight to the courts, leading a group of independents in a lawsuit against Maryland and the Board of Elections that alleges the state’s partisan, or closed, primary process is unconstitutional and violates the rights of registered voters like her who are not affiliated with a political party.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in state court in Anne Arundel County by attorney Boyd Rutherford, Maryland’s former Republican lieutenant governor, in collaboration with the nonpartisan Open Primaries Education Fund, at a time when third-party and independent voters are a growing segment of the electorate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/05/29/lawsuit-primary-election-maryland/
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