In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which sought to end the discriminatory voting practices endorsed by many southern and northern states in the aftermath of American hostility born 100 years after the end of the Civil War in 1865. The VRA, along with the Civil Rights Act of 1864, were the most progressive civil rights legislation passed since the 13 ^th , 14 ^th , and 15 ^th Reconstruction Amendments, helping put an end to Jim Crow.

In 2025, the nation again finds itself on the precipice of widespread voter discrimination. Despite the VRA’s longevity, the unfilled promises of fair voting districts, expansion of voter rights, language access, and an accessible electoral system continue to be elusive under a new White House administration and additional rollbacks of the federal VRA. Despite popular belief, many states, including Maryland, are not immune to these attacks. Regardless of its progressive reputation, Maryland remains among several states that have yet to fully live up to their reputability.

A package of bills known as the Maryland Voting Rights Act includes provisions that would do just this. The MDVRA boosts election transparency, prevents vote dilution and suppression, ensures language access, stops voter intimidation, and prevents discrimination before it happens.

This session, the Maryland General Assembly has an opportunity to advance critical bills in the package – H.B. 983, S.B. 685, H.B. 1043 and S.B. 342 – and establish Maryland not only as a national leader in voter integrity, but also as a defender of the constitutional rights of its residents before more lacerations to the VRA occur and the second Trump administration finishes what the first started.

Since 2010, the United States Census showed that the state’s population had grown by 7 percent, making Maryland the most diverse state on the East Coast.

At the time, the jurisdictions experiencing the largest population incline were Anne Arundel County at 9 percent, Prince George County at 12 percent, Charles County at 13 percent, Howard County at 15 percent, and Frederick County at 16 percent. These additions to population growth also made Maryland more diverse. Those who identify as Black and African American grew 7 percent, Indigenous and Natives grew 56 percent, Asian grew 32 percent, Latino grew 55 percent, while multi-racial identifiers jumped 192percent.

As Maryland continues to diversify, district maps must keep pace with those changing demographics to ensure truly representative government. In late December 2021, despite months of outcry by residents, Baltimore County officials passed a racially discriminatory election plan that unfairly suppressed the voting rights power of BIPOC voters. The County’s BIPOC residents had grown to 47 percent of its population, an increase from 25 percent in 2000 and 35 percent in 2010. Despite this growth, the Council’s redistricting plan created a racial gerrymander maintaining six out of seven districts as majority White.

By packing an excessive number of Black voters into a single majority-Black district, the County plan diluted the political power and opportunities of Black voters throughout Baltimore County – a trend we have seen throughout Maryland, including in Federalsburg (a town in Caroline County) and Wicomico County , where recent successful lawsuits ended discriminatory election systems and provided proof that these systems exist and need dismantling.

A coalition that included the Baltimore County NAACP, Common Cause Maryland, the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County, and several individual plaintiffs sued Baltimore County to challenge its illegal plan. The coalition alleged that Baltimore County’s history of discrimination and racially polarized voting enabled White residents to vote in blocs to defeat and discourage Black candidates from running in majority-White districts. No Black candidate in its history has been elected to the County Council from a majority-White district – a situation that is unacceptable in a county that is nearly half BIPOC residents.

In November 2024, only after several challenges and demands from grassroots organizations and residents, did the Baltimore County Council agree to move from seven districts to nine after 60 percent of voters approved the expansion. As then-Baltimore County executive and now U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr. said, “Our county has grown. We are more diverse. Our council has not kept up with that.” Baltimore County Council Member Izzy Patoka also suggested that “Baltimore County is moving out of 1956.” And so should the entire state of Maryland.

While there were eventual wins in Baltimore County (which is still involved in litigation), Federalsburg and Wicomico, this only occurred after an expensive and lengthy case brought under the federal VRA by nonprofit organizations. With preclearance programs and protections against voter suppression and vote dilution , a strong Maryland Voting Rights Act provides key protections against election systems that weaken voters’ voices based on their geography and race.

Black voters must be able to elect candidates of their choice and know that their votes are not diluted just because of how districts are drawn. The MDVRA would respond directly to that issue by prohibiting Maryland counties and municipalities from imposing or applying methods for electing its representatives in a manner that inhibits Black voters from electing their candidate of choice or impairs their ability to influence the outcome of an election.

With the MDVRA, Baltimore County’s commission would have shown the community the map before it went into effect and a state court would have had to consider all remedies on equal footing, including remedies presented by the ACLU of Maryland. The federal court deferred to Baltimore County, which is why the initial map didn’t work. Such a framework is essential for protesting districting plans that splice communities of color into multiple districts or pack voters of color into just one district, something Black voters in Baltimore and throughout the state understand all too well.

Importantly, unlike the federal VRA, the MDVRA seeks to avoid litigation and save taxpayer funds by requiring voters to work cooperatively with localities to solve vote dilution issues before filing a lawsuit.

Vote discrimination is no mere relic of the past—it exists today, and there is no state solution without the Maryland Voting Rights Act. The problems Black and Latino voters face in accessing the ballot box are not going away unless we and our legislators act now this session, or the 81 percent of Maryland voters who support the MDVRA make their voices heard by their representatives during the next election.

It is crucial for Maryland legislators to move the parts of the MDVRA package that addresses vote dilution out of committee. By incorporating some of the MDVRA provisions, SB 342 and HB 1043 take a step towards addressing underrepresentation of Black voters, while the entire bill package is critical to pass if Maryland wishes to live up to its reputation as a national leader.

The great people of Maryland do not have the luxury of waiting while this Trump administration and lopsided Supreme Court cut voting rights. Maryland needs a voting rights act, and we need it now.