State election board provides petition signature database to Casa de Maryland

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By Glynis Kazanjian
For MarylandReporter.com

Responding to a Public Information Act request, the State Board of Elections gave immigrant advocacy group Casa de Maryland a disk with names, addresses and signatures of people who have signed the petition to bring in-state tuition for illegal immigrants to the ballot in 2012.

The disk granted one of two requests made by the group. The second requested photocopies of the original petition signature forms submitted to the State Board of Elections. State Voter Registration Director Mary Wagner said that request will also be granted, but they are still figuring out how to do it.

Casa submitted its request to the State Board of Elections June 22, the same day the state board certified over 47,000 petition signatures, said state board spokeswoman, Donna Duncan. A copy of Casa’s letter can only be obtained through a Public Information Act request, Duncan said.

Duncan said that same information that Casa just received was also provided to petition backers Del. Michael Smigiel and Del. Neil Parrott.

Reports circulating on the internet by Dream Act opponents suggest taxpayers will have to fund Casa’s request, which could involved photocopying as many as 35,000 pages.

“This is absolutely not the case,” Wagner said. Whoever requests copies of a record—in this case, Casa—must pay for them, she said.

To fulfill the second request, the petition signature pages will be transported by state board staff to a facility that can accommodate the large number of photocopies.  Wagner said it was likely a member of Casa would accompany them, but whether Parrott, who requested to also be present to represent the petitioners’ group, would accompany them has not been decided.

“I don’t know.  It would depend upon the facilities,” Wagner said.

June 30 marks the final deadline for petition signatures to be submitted to the state board.  Local boards of election, who receive the signatures, will have 20 days to validate them. Signatures are due back to the state board by July 20 and the state board has two days to certify them.

To date, 47,288 signatures have been certified by the state, out of 57,505 submitted. If 55,736 certified signatures are collected, the newly passed law will be put on the 2012 general election ballot.

About The Author

Len Lazarick

len@marylandreporter.com

Len Lazarick was the founding editor and publisher of MarylandReporter.com and is currently the president of its nonprofit corporation and chairman of its board He was formerly the State House bureau chief of the daily Baltimore Examiner from its start in April 2006 to its demise in February 2009. He was a copy editor on the national desk of the Washington Post for eight years before that, and has spent decades covering Maryland politics and government.

12 Comments

  1. Darrell Hovermale

    I believe the voters of Maryland if given the opportunity by referendum will reject this law. Mr. OMalley knows it. The legislators that passed this law know it, and Casa De Maryland knows it. That is why they are fighting so hard to thwart the will of the people. If they are successful, I believe you will have a large number of voters totally lose faith in Maryland’s political system. Be you Democrat, Independant or Republican. There is much more at stake here than in state tuition rates for children of illegal aliens.

  2. Hotjavajack

    The petition forms generated online contain the petitioner’s full date of birth.  Allowing these forms, or even photocopies, to be taken anywhere but the Board of Elections is a gross violation of the petitioners’ privacy and exposes them to the risk of identity theft.  This kowtowing to special interest groups has crossed the line and is now a threat by the State to its citizens.

  3. Anonymous

    SO can we get the names of all the illegal immmigrants CASA etc have; so we can deport them under the Freedom Of Information Act.

  4. Anonymous

    SO can we get the names of all the illegal immmigrants CASA etc have; so we can deport them under the Freedom Of Information Act.

  5. Anonymous

    Is this so CASA clients have a larger database to choose their new identities from? Every voter in Maryland should be highly incensed at any hint of intimidation or release of personal information. Is this being done to quiet any legitimate protest by voters while promoters of illegal aliens wave the Mexican flag & demand their rights? I refuse to stand down & give away my 1st amendment rights that my forefather fought for at Yorktown. The politicians in Annapolis should be aware that the entire state does not share their “New American” views. A referendum vote, in the sanctity of the voting booth should be the ultimate message. We have had enough.

  6. amr1507

    Each of the petition sheets has the collector’s name, address and telephone number at the bottom of each sheet.  Thus CASA has information on the grassroots activists setting them up for CASA to harass and intimidate these people in particular. This has been the modus operandi of the Left.  Remember what happened in CA when the information on the contributors to the referendum to ban gay marriage; some received death threats.
     
    I thought the information was protected by privacy laws just as one’s voting record; stupid me.  I bet the signers did too.  I know some of the ladies who were collectors of signers are afraid of what might happen.  One who is the timid type is asking about firearms for self defense.  I know from experience that the sheriff’s dept will not help one when threatened and obtaining a permit to carry in Maryland is difficult without a blatant, provable threat to your life or family members. 
     
    The leadership of the petition drive should have tried to obtain a restraining order on releasing this information from the get-go; assuming they knew the policy.  This will limit the potential of obtaining signatures for future petitions.

    If CASA starts an intimidation campaign, my bet is the media will not cover it.  The Left utilizes the “end justifies the means” philosophy, but if they start something, they may get more blowback than they want. 

  7. Strawman99

    I signed the petition and don’t care who knows it.  This is a Nation of laws and when our political “leaders” flaunt those laws for political gain, yes, I will oppose them.  If this country wants to grant the illegals citizenship, then it should change the law and let everyone in…not just those who are within walking distance.  I can’t understand how Casa and other agencies and people can advocate for ignoring this law while not advocating ignoring all laws.  What is the difference?  This is either a Nation governed by laws or it is not.  We can’t pick and choose.  Or maybe each of us could just decide what laws we personally want to obey.  I think I will start with the tax law.

  8. BernadetteZ

    Outrageous.  O’malley is orchestrating this.  He hates for anyone to oppose him.  Irish thug. 

  9. Steve Schulin

    Petition signature sheets should be publicly available. As to birth date info, my recollection of the Maryland law is that signers need only provide month and day. Yet a sample form provided by state — http://www.elections.state.md.us/pdf/6-201-1C.pdf — specifies mm/dd/yy format — that should probably be changed for privacy reasons to just mm/dd.

    Steve Schulin, 
    volunteer – Maryland Independent Party (state affiliate of America’s Independent Party – a new political home for God-fearing, liberty-loving, sovereignty-conserving Americans)
    [we need 10,000 registered voters to sign our petition to be recognized as a party here in Maryland. Will you help? http://www.marylandindependentparty.org

  10. Lisa Kauffman Bittinger

    I suppose once CASA gets the signature pages they will have a plethora of new people with which to start using their personal information for identity theft.  Our signatures on those papers were never intended for illegals to have access to and now they will and let the thuggery begin along with identity theft because the State Election Board forced us to put down our birth dates.  Talk about a right to privacy. Yes, we have a right to petition – but with that we left our right to privacy at the door. It’s a sad day to live in Maryland.  I suppose many will be seeking a new state to live in after this if they can.  I know I wish I could if I didn’t have a business here. 

  11. Bubbaskirtchaser

    Let the fraud begin casa!…And sure OWEMalley will help!

    • Rwei120303

      NOW WE KNOW THAT THE MARYLAND STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS ARE NOW AN ARM OF THE LIBERAL/PROGRESSIVE ARE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WALKING A FINE LINE DEMANDED BY THE MSBE (MARYLAND STATE BOARD OF ELECTION) AT THE DIRECTION OF THE GOVERNOR, AND THE ATTY. GENERAL GANSLER. I ASK THE QUESTION; WHY SHOULD WE EVEN VOTE IN THIS STATE?
       

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  1. The Immigration Policy of Absurdistan: Legal is Illegal; Illegal is Legal | RedState - [...] election.  Concurrently, Illegal immigrant activists, led by the publicly funded CASA de Maryland, have received a copy of the…

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