Effort to bar early voting lacks support

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The Maryland State Board of Elections yesterday said a petition for a referendum that would bar early voting has failed to get enough signatures.

The petition fell 138 signatures short of the 17,062 needed to put the referendum on November's ballots, said Donna Duncan, deputy administrator of the elections board.

Thomas W. Roskelly, chairman of group that collected the petition signatures, demanded a public recount.

"This whole thing is being done in private," said Mr. Roskelly, who learned of the signature shortfall from reporters. "Is politics involved in this whole process? The answer is: 'You bet.'"

Election officials were recounting the signatures yesterday, and Mr. Roskelly will receive formal notice of the count today, Ms. Duncan said.

On Monday, the State Board of Elections reported it had certified nearly 40,000 signatures on the petition, which the Annapolis-based group Marylanders for Fair Elections submitted May 30.

The group says the early voting law enacted by Democratic-controlled General Assembly this year invites voter fraud. The law allows voting in certain precincts as early as five days before Election Day.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election this fall, vetoed the early voting legislation last year and supported the petition drive, citing the potential for voter fraud.

An Ehrlich spokesman yesterday declined to comment before the State Board of Elections makes a formal announcement about the petition's status.

Democratic lawmakers overrode Mr. Ehrlich's veto of the early voting measure during this year's regular session.