Maryland’s first election since the coronavirus pandemic will not only fill a vacant Baltimore-area congressional seat but test how well voters — and the state — navigate a balloting-by-mail system that had to be hurriedly devised because of the health crisis.
There has never been a Maryland election like Tuesday’s, in which voters will decide who will complete the remainder of the 7th Congressional District term of Democrat Elijah Cummings, who died in October.
The health crisis has shelved campaign rallies and handshaking, limited in-person voting to three sites, and left election officials to dramatically expand a vote-by-mail operation previously used only for people who requested absentee ballots.