City-imposed deadline challenge not deterring ABC from pushing forward with their petition campaign
In the city of Annapolis, Maryland, Annapolitans for a Better Community (ABC), a local nonpartisan advocacy group, is urging registered voters to visit their website and sign petitions as part of their citywide petition drive that will continue until September 2, 2025. The drive aims to allow nearly 7,000 nonpartisan voters to participate in the city's primary elections and place two citizen-driven questions on the November 4, 2025, ballot.
The petitions propose a reduction in the Homestead Property Tax Credit assessment cap from 10% to 2%, and the other question allows nonpartisan voters to participate in the city's primary elections. ABC contends that the City Council's adoption of Ordinance O-19-24 last October repealed the prior deadline for petition submissions but did not replace it with a new one.
As of early August 2025, there is no undisputed, current legal deadline for submitting petitions for citizen-driven questions beyond the disputed July 28, 2025, deadline set by the City's Board of Supervisors of Elections (BOSE). However, ABC claims that deadline is no longer valid. The City election candidate filing deadline is indeed July 28, but that is specifically for candidates, not for citizen petitions, which ABC contests.
ABC has gathered several thousand signatures, with the goal of reaching the legally required threshold of 10% of registered voters citywide. The group has been denied a meeting with the BOSE and the City Attorney to resolve the matter, but they intend to submit the petitions by September 2, 2025.
No official update from the City or BOSE has clarified a new legal deadline replacing the repealed one, and the City's online election calendar has not been updated to reflect the ordinance change, according to ABC. The statement from ABC encourages voters to mail both petitions as soon as possible.
The City maintains July 28, 2025, as the deadline, but this is disputed, and there appears to be no legally established deadline currently agreed upon beyond that date for citizen-driven petition submissions for the 2025 municipal ballot in Annapolis.
- In light of the ongoing dispute over the deadline for citizen-driven petition submissions, Annapolitans for a Better Community (ABC) urges registered voters to sign petitions related to policy-and-legislation, such as the reduction in the Homestead Property Tax Credit assessment cap and allowing nonpartisan voters to participate in city elections, via their website.
- Despite the City's ongoing maintenance of the July 28, 2025, deadline for petition submissions, ABC has yet to receive a clarification on a new, legally established deadline for the 2025 municipal ballot, and encourages voters to mail both petitions promptly as part of the citywide petition drive.
