states

Maryland has an ISLT score of 13, which means it has a low risk of a Republican-led state legislature passing legislation to swing the state’s 2024 electoral votes toward the Republican presidential nominee. 

Maryland’s margin of victory in the last presidential contest was 33.2%, making it the 45th closest contest. The margin of victory in the state matters because states with the closest margins of victories are more likely to flip as a result of voter suppression bills and other tactics that could be unleashed by a rogue, unaccountable state legislature. 

Currently, the state legislature is controlled by the Democratic Party. The partisan control of the state legislature is included because Republican operatives supported and carried out an insurrectionist coup to undermine democracy in the last election, and have demonstrated a desire to overturn democratic election outcomes if necessary in order to gain power. Republicans control 27.7% of the Maryland House and 35.1% of the Maryland Senate, which indicates that Republicans do not have a majority to enact future legislation that could interfere with the 2024 election. We also compared the partisan control of the state legislature to the state’s 2020 presidential results, and found that Republicans control 2.9% more state senate seats than expected and do not control more state house seats than expected. 

Maryland’s legislature introduced at least 15 bills during 2021 and 2022 that would suppress votes or interfere with election administration.

Additional Considerations

Governor

Voters in Maryland recently elected Governor Moore (D). Generally, the Maryland legislature is reliably Democratic. However, under a maximalist version of ISLT, Governor Moore would not be able to act as a check on statutes related to federal elections through a gubernatorial veto. State legislatures could enact radical changes without the governor’s approval — circumventing the usual process required for bills to become law.

State Supreme Court 

Under a maximalist version of ISLT, the state Supreme Court would be unable to review or strike down any federal election-related changes the state legislature enacted. State legislatures could enact radical changes without state courts or the state constitution checking their authoritarian power. For this reason, the Conference of Chief Justices — which represents chief justices of both parties in all 50 states, took the rare step of filing an amicus brief opposing ISLT.

State-Specific Factors

Currently, voters in Maryland have the power to engage in direct democracy — they can directly influence state law through voter referendums, which provide a powerful check on the state legislature.⁴ Voter-initiated legislation in states across the U.S. has addressed matters such as establishing all-mail vote systems, filling vacant U.S. Senate seats through a special election rather than governor appointment, redistricting criteria, and more. Maryland employs voter referendums that may allow voters to have a say in how officials conduct federal elections by checking unwanted legislation. However, if the Supreme Court adopts ISLT, the Maryland state legislature could strip this power away from voters for matters related to federal elections. All states except Delaware also require voter approval when the state legislature amends the state constitution; under a maximalist version of ISLT, state legislatures could adopt election rules and laws that violate the state constitution without the need to amend it or seek voter approval.

¹ 2020 presidential election data sourced from “2020 Presidential Election Results” Interactive Map, New York Times.
² 2022 midterm election data sourced from “Maryland Election Results 2022 Midterms,” The New York Times and “Unofficial 2022 General Election Results,” Maryland State Board of Elections. Several seats have yet to be called; our data is based on current leaders and will be updated.
³ State legislation data sourced from “Comprehensive Bill Tracker,” Voting Rights Lab (accessed Nov. 7, 2022).
⁴ Direct democracy data sourced from “Forms of direct democracy in the American states,” Ballotpedia, and “Initiative and Referendum Processes,” National Conference of State Legislatures.