The House Government, Labor and Elections Committee heard a slate of voting and election reform bills on Wednesday with less than two weeks before the legislative session concludes.
All of the bills await a committee vote, and if released, would then require two votes on the House floor to make it to the governor’s desk for signature.
SB0697 - Social media algorithms and foreign bot interference
This bill would prohibit a social media platform from altering its algorithm to amplify political content that boosts a particular candidate or influences an election without proper disclosure.
In other words, platforms like Facebook or Tik Tok could still elevate political content, but they would have to publicize that users’ algorithms are being altered and file a report with the State Board of Elections.
Any violation would not penalize the political candidate, unless they were directly involved in the algorithmic manipulation.
“This is sort of the era we are in,” Sen. Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery County) said during the hearing. “I think Maryland's uniquely positioned to be one of the leaders in the nation here as the technology evolves.”
The second part of the bill would further regulate foreign government intervention in elections.
It would prohibit foreign nationals from using bots — automated online accounts — to disseminate campaign materials to influence an election, and ban them from artificially amplifying election content.
The State Board of Elections may seek to remove the bot if it determines a violation has occurred.
SB0100 - Requiring buses to stop at early voting centers
If signed into law, any public buses with fixed local routes would be required to stop at early voting centers located within one-half mile of the route.
The requirement would not apply to buses run by the Maryland Transit Administration or the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
However, on Election Day, MTA has historically offered free transit on core services, like the bus, subway and light rail.
SB0241 - Restoring voter registration for formerly incarcerated individuals
In Maryland, voting rights are automatically restored after serving prison time for a felony conviction, as long as the crime was not buying or selling votes.
Lawmakers are looking at bolstering the reregistration process for previously incarcerated individuals through Senate Bill 241.
It would require the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to promptly send a list of qualified individuals released from prison with their new addresses to the State Board of Elections.
This new electronic transmission process would have to be developed and implemented by Jan. 1, 2028.
SB0029 - Requiring ballot questions to be written with plain language
At the present, 23 states have some type of law requiring that ballot language be written in a way that is easy to understand and is digestible for voters.
Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County) wants to bring that same requirement to Maryland and read past ballot propositions during the committee hearing to showcase just how convoluted they can appear.
“This sets up process, guardrails and makes it clear that we want our voters to understand if we're asking for their opinion, we want to make sure that they feel ready to give it,” she said.
SB0065 - Reining in exploratory committee spending
Kagan is also eyeing exploratory committee regulations, which are created by potential candidates to test the waters on a run for public office.
The exploratory committee allows them to raise money in order to conduct polls or travel around the state to talk to voters, but as Kagan points out, those parameters are not written into Maryland code, and these committees can raise unlimited amounts of money.
“We right now have no transparency, so people can legally donate millions of dollars to an exploratory campaign. The candidate or the exploratory committee can then spend it on– I give an example of buying a new car. All of that is legal today,” she told the committee.
Her bill would clarify that exploratory funds have to be spent on campaign-related expenditures, and if the potential candidate decides not to run, then the committee must be disbanded.
“This is an enormous loophole in our campaign finance law, and this bill and its cross-file seeks to reasonably close it, increase transparency and put limitations,” Kagan said.
SB0141 - Penalizing the use of AI-generated deepfakes to distribute election misinformation
Sen. Katie Fry Hester’s bill (D-Howard and Montgomery) would criminalize the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to spread election misinformation.
Hester is looking to get ahead of the potential for fake images being circulated of polling places on fire or deceptive videos showing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents swarming a voting center.
“This is probably going to happen. It's probably going to be artificial intelligence, done with deepfakes. But my guess is that if that happens, people will be afraid to go there and vote,” she testified.
The bill would allow the state administrator of elections to seek an injunction for the removal of any election misinformation from online platforms and then require the administrator to release the correct information to the public.
Hester has also introduced SB0008, which deals specifically with regulating deepfakes that impersonate someone with the intent of causing injury or emotional distress.
SB0255 - Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026
Sen. Charles Sydnor’s (D-Baltimore County) legislation is inspired by the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is currently facing a significant legal challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court.
It would prohibit counties and municipalities from weakening the voting power of members of a “protected class,” referring to voters who are part of a racial or language minority.
This often refers to the “cracking” or “packing” of districts that are densely populated with Black voters.
For political gain, local governments may attempt to dilute Black voting power by splitting up these communities when drawing legislative boundaries, or condensing them into a single district.
Following the bill's favorable report from its Senate committee in January, Sydnor explained it stems from a real instance that happened with Black voters in Baltimore County in 2021.
“The lawsuit alleged that the County Council's redistricting map illegally diluted the voting rights and voting power of Black residents by packing us into a single majority district,” Sydnor said during a press conference. “We actually had to depend on private, outside counsel to help us to enforce our rights. We could not turn to the attorney general.”
Sydnor and his neighbors ended up winning that lawsuit and a new map was drawn, but the Maryland Voting Rights Act would ensure the Maryland attorney general has the ability to act as counsel in these types of cases.
“We have to really think about the times that we're living in where the federal government, this federal administration, is attempting to make it as difficult as possible, not only for noncitizens to vote, but for citizens to vote,” Sydnor said during Tuesday’s committee hearing.
A House version of the bill is attempting to make similar requirements for local school board elections, but Sydnor worries that path could loop in state-run elections.
“We believe that the flexibility that this bill has, it's the right point where the legislation should be,” he said.
