Maryland Question 5, Requiring Howard County Circuit Court Judges to Serve on Orphan Court Amendment (2022)

Maryland Question 5
Election date November 8, 2022
Topic State judiciary
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Maryland Question 5, the Requiring Howard County Circuit Court Judges to Serve on Orphan Court Amendment, was on the ballot in Maryland as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022. The ballot measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending the state constitution to require that Howard County Circuit Court judges serve as orphans' court judges and remove the election requirement of three orphans' court judges.

A "no" vote opposed amending the state constitution to require that Howard County Circuit Court judges serve as orphans' court judges and remove the election requirement of three orphans' court judges.

Election results

Maryland Question 5
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,062,187	66.80%
No		528,000	33.20%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What did Question 5 change?

See also: Text of measure

Question 5 included Howard County in the list of counties that requires circuit court judges to serve on their respective county's orphan's court. At the time of the election, the list of counties included Montgomery and Harford counties. The amendment also removed the election requirement of three orphans' court judges in Howard County from the state constitution. Section 1 of Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution required a simple majority vote in the state and the affected county in order for the amendment to pass.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:

“

Repeals county elections of Howard County orphans' court judges and requires the Howard County Circuit Court judges to sit as the orphans' court for Howard County. The current law provides for the voters of Howard County to elect three orphans' court judges. Under the amended law, a party could no longer appeal a final judgment of the Howard County Orphans Court to the Howard County Circuit Court and would instead take an appeal directly to the Court of Special Appeals. (Amending Article IV, Sections 20 and 40 to the Maryland Constitution) [ ] For the Constitutional Amendment [ ] Against the Constitutional Amendment

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article IV, Maryland Constitution

Question 5 amended sections 20 and 40 of Article IV of the state constitution. The following underlined text was added: Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Text of Section 20: (a) There shall be a Circuit Court for each County and for Baltimore City. The Circuit Courts shall have and exercise, in the respective counties, and Baltimore City, all the power, authority and jurisdiction, original and appellate, which the Circuit Courts of the counties exercised on the effective date of these amendments, and the greater or lesser jurisdiction hereafter prescribed by law.

(b) The judges of the Circuit Courts for Howard, Montgomery, and Harford counties shall each, alternately and in rotation and on schedules to be established by those judges, sit as an Orphans' Court for their County, and shall have and exercise all the power, authority and jurisdiction which the present Orphans' Courts now have and exercise, or which may hereafter be provided by law.

Text of Section 40: (a) The qualified voters of the several Counties, except Howard County, Montgomery County, and Harford County, shall elect three Judges of the Orphans' Courts of Counties who shall be citizens of the State and residents, for the twelve months preceding, in the County for which they may be elected.

(b) The qualified voters of the City of Baltimore shall elect three Judges of the Orphans' Court for Baltimore City who shall be citizens of the State and residents, for the twelve months preceding, in Baltimore City and who have been admitted to practice law in this State and are members in good standing of the Maryland Bar.

(c) The qualified voters of Prince George's County shall elect three Judges of the Orphans' Court for Prince George's County who shall be citizens of the State and residents, for the twelve months preceding, in Prince George's County and who have been admitted to practice law in this State and are members in good standing of the Maryland Bar.

(d) The qualified voters of Baltimore County shall elect three Judges of the Orphans' Court for Baltimore County who shall be citizens of the State and residents, for the twelve months preceding, in Baltimore County and who have been admitted to practice law in this State and are members in good standing of the Maryland Bar.

(e) The Judges shall have all the powers now vested in the Orphans' Courts of the State, subject to such changes as the Legislature may prescribe.

(f) Each of the Judges shall be paid such compensation as may be regulated by Law, to be paid by the City or Counties, respectively.

(g) In case of a vacancy in the office of Judge of the Orphans' Court, the Governor shall appoint, subject to confirmation or rejection by the Senate, some suitable person to fill the vacancy for the residue of the term.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2022

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 12, and the FRE is 50. The word count for the ballot title is 89.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• Howard County Register of Wills Byron Macfarlane (D)

Arguments

• Howard County Register of Wills Byron Macfarlane: "[W]e would give families a system that is far more efficient. Our current court is part-time and comprised of three judges – part-time means unnecessary delays and requiring a majority of three judges to act means time-consuming disagreements."

Opposition

Opponents

Officials

• Baltimore City Orphans' Court Judge Charles Bernstein (D)
• Chief judge of the Orphans Court of Howard County Anne Dodd

Arguments

• Orphans Court Judge Charles Bernstein: "The Orphans' Court is much better positioned to handle this very specialized esoteric area, than an already overworked, overburdened Circuit Court."

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maryland ballot measures

Ballotpedia has not identified any committees registered in support of or opposition to Question 5.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Media editorials

See also: 2022 ballot measure media endorsements

Ballotpedia identified the following media editorial boards as taking positions on the measure.

Ballotpedia lists the positions of media editorial boards that support or oppose ballot measures. This does not include opinion pieces from individuals or groups that do not represent the official position of a newspaper or media outlet. Ballotpedia includes editorials from newspapers and outlets based on circulation and readership, political coverage within a state, and length of publication. You can share media editorial board endorsements with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Support

You can share campaign information or arguments, along with source links for this information, at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Opposition

• Baltimore Sun Editorial Board: "Question 5. Against. ... [I]t would also add to the workload of already overworked circuit court judges and has the feel of being a solution in search of a problem."

Background

Maryland Orphans' Court

See also: Maryland Orphans' Court

In Maryland, the orphans' court is a probate court that presides over the administration of estates of people who have died. Judges of the orphans' court are responsible for approving appropriate payments made from estates and making sure payments are made to the beneficiaries or heirs.

In 1964, voters approved a constitutional amendment to require that Montgomery County Circuit Court judges serve as orphans' court judges and eliminate the election of orphans' court judges. In 1972, voters approved a constitutional amendment to require that Harford County judges serve as orphans' court judges and eliminate the election of orphans' court judges.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Maryland Constitution

To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a 60% supermajority vote is required in both the Maryland State Senate and the Maryland House of Representatives.

Question 5 was introduced as House Bill 868 on February 7, 2022. On March 18, 2022, the state House passed HB 868 in a vote of 119-10 with 12 absent or not voting. On April 8, 2022, the state Senate passed HB 868 by a vote of 41-4 with two absent or not voting.

Vote in the Maryland House of Representatives March 18, 2022
Requirement: Three-fifths (60 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 85  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	119	10	12
Total percent	84.40%	7.09%	8.51%
Democrat	91	0	8
Republican	28	10	4

Vote in the Maryland State Senate April 8, 2022
Requirement: Three-fifths (60 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 29  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	41	4	2
Total percent	87.23%	8.51%	4.26%
Democrat	30	1	1
Republican	11	3	1

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Maryland

See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Maryland.

How to vote in Maryland

Poll times

In Maryland, all polling places are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration

Check your voter registration status here.

According to the Maryland State Board of Elections, to register to vote in Maryland, one must be a United States citizen and Maryland resident who is at least 16 years old. Although a 16-year-old can register to vote, he or she cannot vote in an election unless he or she will be 18 at the time of the next general election (i.e., 17-year-olds are permitted to vote in primary elections, so long as they'll be 18 by the time of the corresponding general election).

Maryland allows same-day voter registration during the early voting period and on Election Day.

Voters may register online, by mail, or in person at one of the following locations:

• Local board of elections
• The State Board of Elections
• Local Department of Health office
• Maryland Department of Human Services local offices
• Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) offices
• Local Area Agency on Aging offices
• MTA Paratransit Certification Office
• All public institutions of higher education
• Recruitment offices of the U.S. Armed Forces
• Marriage license offices
• Offices for students with disabilities at all Maryland colleges and universities

Automatic registration

Maryland automatically registers eligible individuals to vote through the Motor Vehicle Administration.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Maryland has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

Maryland allows same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

Maryland law requires 21 days of residency in the state before a person may vote.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

Mayland does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury.

Several local jurisdictions in Maryland permit noncitizens to vote in at least some local elections. These jurisdictions maintain separate voter registration systems for noncitizen voters. See here for more information.

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The voter lookup page, run by the Maryland Board of Elections, allows residents to check their voter registration status online.

Voter ID requirements

Maryland does not require voters to present identification while voting, in most cases.

A voter will be asked to show ID in the following circumstances:

• The voter registered by mail and did not provide proper identification;
• The voter’s identity is challenged; or
• The voter registers to vote during early voting or changes his or her address during early voting.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of October 2024. Click here for the Maryland Attorney General's voting information page to ensure you have the most current information.

“

A Maryland Driver's License or other Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) issued identification A student ID card that contains a photo An employee ID card that contains a photo A passport or other government issued ID, OR, if you do not have those forms of ID: a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck that shows your name and address and is less than 3 months old. If you are showing ID because you are voting for the first time, your name and address on the document must match the information on the voter registration roll.

”

See also

2022 measures

• 2022 ballot measures
• State judiciary on the ballot

Maryland

• Maryland ballot measures
• Maryland ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• House Bill 868