Maryland Senate Unanimously Passes Presidential Primary Move to Late April

The Maryland state Senate on Thursday, March 5 unanimously passed SB 204.¹ The measure, amended from its original form, would move the presidential primary in the Old Line state from the first Tuesday in April back to the fourth Tuesday in April.

This move is being made to avoid the administration of the election overlapping with religious holidays during the month of April. By moving back three weeks on the calendar -- instead of the originally proposed one week move -- the bill would schedule the presidential primary on the same date as primaries in neighboring Delaware and Pennsylvania as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Maryland has been a part of subregional primaries in each of the last two presidential election cycles.

The bill now moves to the state House for consideration. Legislation identical to the original Senate bill has already been filed in the House.

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UPDATE (3/15/15): House bill clears committee


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¹ The bill passed on a 47-0 vote.

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