Threat Tier: 4 — GUARDED Last Researched: September 7, 2026

Data currency notice: This playbook reflects conditions as of September 7, 2026. Maryland has robust voting infrastructure, same-day registration, a Democratic trifecta, and — as of this year — its own state-level Voting Rights Act. Its proximity to Washington, D.C. creates unique federal workforce voter considerations. Verify deadlines at elections.maryland.gov.

Recent Developments (Entry Point for Updates)

• September 6-7, 2026: DOJ withdrew its September 3 Supreme Court application and filed a new one asking the Court to stay the September 4 nationwide preliminary injunction against the USPS mail-ballot rule, plus a parallel 1st Circuit appeal. Maryland is one of 25 plaintiff jurisdictions (23 states’ AGs, DC’s AG, and Pennsylvania’s Governor) in the underlying suit.
• August 10, 2026: DOJ filed its opening brief in the Fourth Circuit appeal (No. 26-1878) of the dismissal of its Maryland voter-data suit. No hearing date has been set.
• August 5, 2026: Gov. Wes Moore signed HB 2100, passed during an August 3-5 special legislative session. This does not create a new congressional map for November 2026 — Maryland’s current map (7 Democratic seats, 1 Republican, held by Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st District) stays in place for this election. HB 2100 instead puts a constitutional amendment on the November 3, 2026 ballot as a voter referendum, clarifying that congressional redistricting is not bound by the same criteria as state legislative redistricting — a change legislative leaders framed explicitly as a response to Louisiana v. Callais and the resulting uncertainty around the federal Voting Rights Act. If voters ratify it, it opens a path for lawmakers to draw a new, more Democratic-favorable congressional map in time for the 2028 election — not this one. An earlier effort to redraw the map immediately during the regular 2026 session passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
• 2026 legislative session: Maryland enacted SB 255, the Maryland Voting Rights Act — a state-level analog to federal VRA Section 2, passed 32-14 in the Senate. It bars counties and municipalities from using an election method that dilutes or abridges the voting strength of a protected class, and empowers the state Attorney General or a private party to sue to enforce it. Maryland became the 10th state with such a law, and one of the more direct legislative responses nationally to Callais‘s narrowing of the federal Section 2 backstop.
• June 18, 2026: DOJ’s voter-data lawsuit (United States v. DeMarinis, naming State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis) was dismissed with prejudice; the court held DOJ’s demand for Maryland’s unredacted voter file fell outside the scope of Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960. DOJ appealed August 10 (see above).
• June 23, 2026: Maryland held its statewide primary. Gov. Wes Moore (D) and AG Anthony Brown (D) both won renomination; Brown is unopposed in November. Rep. Andy Harris (R, MD-01) won renomination and faces Democrat Dan Schwartz in a district Democrats twice tried and failed to redraw this cycle.
• Maryland’s same-day registration, no-excuse mail voting, and early voting continue operating without disruption.

State Threat Profile

Primary risks:

1. Competitive/contested House seats persist unchanged — with no new map for 2026, MD-01 (Eastern Shore/Harford/Cecil, Rep. Harris) remains the state’s one Republican-held, competitive seat, and a magnet for the coordinated-spending surge described below.
2. DOJ voter roll purge suit — resolved in Maryland’s favor, but on appeal — the state’s large federal workforce and dense, transient population made it a DOJ target. The district court dismissed the suit with prejudice on June 18, 2026; DOJ has appealed to the Fourth Circuit and filed its opening brief August 10, with no hearing date yet set.
3. USPS mail ballot delays — Maryland offers no-excuse mail voting but many voters still rely on postal delivery; the underlying federal rule is currently blocked by a preliminary injunction, with a Supreme Court stay application pending (see below).
4. Federal workforce intimidation — hundreds of thousands of federal employees live in Maryland; executive-branch pressure on their civic participation, even where the Hatch Act formally protects them, is a real risk given DOJ’s posture nationally.
5. ICE presence risk near polling places — Montgomery County and Prince George’s County have large immigrant communities. Maryland has not enacted a law specifically restricting federal immigration enforcement near polling places (unlike Virginia, New Mexico, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, which did in 2026) — this is a gap worth flagging to state legislators.
6. Uncapped coordinated party spending in competitive races — the Supreme Court’s June 30, 2026 decision in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), struck down federal limits on party-coordinated campaign expenditures, removing a ceiling that previously ranged in the low hundred-thousands per race. Expect a surge of coordinated spending in MD-01 and any other competitive Maryland race.

Key defense strengths:

• Same-day registration available during early voting and on Election Day
• No-excuse mail voting
• Early voting period (October 22-29, 2026)
• New: the Maryland Voting Rights Act (SB 255) — a state-level backstop against vote dilution at the county and municipal level, filling part of the gap left by Callais
• State Board of Elections is professional and well-resourced; State Administrator Jared DeMarinis has publicly and specifically rebutted DOJ’s data demands
• Strong AG office with explicit election-protection mandate, actively defending the state in both the DOJ suit and the USPS litigation
• Democratic supermajority in the legislature, demonstrated by both SB 255 and the August special session

Legal Disruption Routes

Officials in Key Positions

Step-by-Step Defense Playbook

For Every Voter

1. Verify your registration at voterservices.elections.maryland.gov — check now, not in October. The General Election online/mail registration deadline is Tuesday, October 13, 2026 (online by 11:59 p.m.; mailed applications postmarked by that date; paper applications submitted in person by 5:00 p.m.).
2. Vote early in person — Maryland’s early voting period runs October 22-29, 2026. It avoids USPS risk entirely, and same-day registration is available at every early voting center during that window and on Election Day itself.
3. Mail ballot: request and return early — Request a mail ballot by October 27, 2026 (mail/fax) or October 30, 2026 (email/online). If mailing your ballot back, it must be postmarked by November 3, 2026 and received by November 13, 2026; dropped in a ballot drop box or returned in person, it must be received by 8:00 p.m. on November 3, 2026.
4. Federal employees: your right to vote is protected by the Hatch Act and state law. No supervisor can retaliate for civic participation. Document any pressure and report it to the Office of Special Counsel and the AG’s office.
5. Same-day registration is available at early voting centers (Oct. 22-29) and on Election Day itself — if you’ve been purged, bring proof of residence and vote.
6. Read the November 3 ballot question on redistricting carefully — it changes the rules for future (2028) congressional maps, not this year’s. It does not change who you’re voting for in 2026.
7. Report federal agent presence at polling locations immediately to the AG’s office and 866-OUR-VOTE.

For Organizers and Lawyers

1. Federal workforce outreach — Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties have massive federal-employee populations. Educate them on Hatch Act protections and document any executive-branch pressure campaigns.
2. MD-01 coverage — with the current map intact and coordinated-spending limits now gone after NRSC v. FEC, station legal observers at early voting and Election Day locations in Harris’s district (Eastern Shore, Harford, Cecil, and parts of Baltimore County).
3. DOJ appeal monitoring — track the Fourth Circuit docket (No. 26-1878) for a hearing date; maintain rapid-notification infrastructure for affected voters in case the posture changes.
4. NVRA 90-day quiet period is active now — under NVRA § 8(c)(2)(A), systematic voter-roll purges must stop 90 days before a federal election; for November 3, 2026 that window began August 5, 2026. Any systematic purge activity right now is presumptively unlawful and immediately actionable.
5. SB 255 enforcement readiness — the Maryland Voting Rights Act creates a private right of action against local/municipal vote dilution. Legal teams working on county-level accountability work should familiarize themselves with its standards now, ahead of any post-2026 dispute.
6. ICE deterrence — coordinate with immigrant-rights organizations in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Push state legislators to close the gap Maryland has relative to VA/NM/CT/RI on polling-place immigration enforcement restrictions.
7. Mail ballot tracking — help voters track ballots via the SBE system; set up cure-assistance phone banks.
8. Redistricting ballot-question education — the November referendum is easy to conflate with an active map change. Voter-education materials should clearly separate “what changes for 2028 if this passes” from “what’s on your ballot this year.”

Key Contacts and Resources

• MD State Board of Elections: elections.maryland.gov | (410) 269-2840
• AG Election Protection: marylandattorneygeneral.gov
• Election Protection Hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
• Voter Registration Lookup: voterservices.elections.maryland.gov
• Early Voting Center Finder: elections.maryland.gov/voting/early_voting
• Federal Employee Rights (OSC): osc.gov

Sources

• 866ourvote.org, “Maryland” voter guide, accessed 9/7/2026
• UW State Democracy Research Initiative, “Tracker: DOJ Lawsuits Seeking States’ Sensitive Voter Data,” updated 9/4/2026 (Maryland entry: dismissed 6/18/26, DOJ opening brief 8/10/26, No. 26-1878)
• Just Security, “‘Zero Evidence’: How Judges and Grand Juries Have Rejected Trump Administration Efforts…,” 7/20/2026 (United States v. DeMarinis dismissal details)
• The Daily Record, “MD elections head tells feds voter rolls are secure,” 7/17/2026
• NBC News / WBAL / Maryland Matters / Politico, coverage of the August 3-5, 2026 special session and HB 2100, 7/7-8/5/2026
• Office of Governor Wes Moore, “Governor Moore Signs Legislation to Put Redistricting Constitutional Amendment on November Ballot,” 8/5/2026
• Ballotpedia, “Redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections,” accessed 9/7/2026 (current 7D-1R map status)
• Ballotpedia, “State of Election Policy Legislation 2026 Mid-Year Report,” 8/27/2026 (SB 255, the Maryland Voting Rights Act)
• WTOP News / Montgomery Community Media, “2026 Maryland gubernatorial primary election results,” 6/23-24/2026 (Moore, Brown, Harris renomination)
• Skadden / CBS News / Wiley Rein, coverage of National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), decided 6/30/2026
• Ballotpedia, “Daily Brew,” 5/27/2026, and NCSL, “Voter Citizenship Bills…,” 7/24/2026 (state law landscape on federal agents at polling places — Maryland not among enacting states)
• Watson v. Republican National Committee, 605 U.S. ___ (2026) (6/29/26)
• Maryland Election Law Article, Annotated Code of Maryland
• Office of Special Counsel, Hatch Act guidance

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Last Updated: September 7, 2026