fightinbluhen51
"Quack Pot Call Honker"
- Oct 31, 2008
- 8,974
Yes...it is a super majority of voters are needed to vote on the question (not in favor of it).IIRC, there are two ways to get amendments through in MD:
The time window for the Constitutional Convention does not come around until 2030 (MD Elections must pose the question to the voting public every 20 years). That process apparently passed a simple majority in 2010 (54% of voters in favor according to a search), but the Administration has not seated a convention (with multiple articles in a search showing that the Administration determined that a "super majority" of voters is required [I can't seem to find that language in the MD Constitution, which implies a simple majority should work]).
- Legislature-driven referendum (as noted, we already know that is doomed to failure)
- Constitutional Convention
IIRC the specific language is you need a plurality of yes votes at least equal to ~60% of overall vote for Governor.
For example O'MAOlly gets 1 million votes
Bobby boy gets 500k
Ballot question A for/against constitutional convention gets 899,000 total votes and thus fails the threshold of 60%, despite the fact that all 899,000 votes on the question were in favor of the convention.
Someone with better memory can correct me if I am incorrect on the precise %ages.