This voter arrived at the early voting center on South Poppleton Street during the Wednesday lunch hour, ready to cast his ballot in this year’s gubernatorial primary. The name of the facility – the University of Maryland Engagement Center – proved ironic to the point of sarcasm, given the sheer electoral ennui on display inside.
In spite of the pleasant weather conditions and the advantageous West Baltimore locale – just a short walk from the University of Maryland Medical Center, and nestled between the bustling West Fayette and West Lombard Street corridors – he discovered that he was, in that moment, the only voter in the house.
Not the only person, obviously. He was joined by a wonderful team of seven dedicated election workers whose cheerfulness belied any understandable feelings of boredom and drudgery.
The lady who confirmed his address and handed the voter his proper ballot complemented him on a very sweet-smelling cologne (Clive Christian 1872, for the curious). The older gentleman who presided over the insertion of the voter’s ballot into the machine was wearing an Orioles cap purchased many seasons ago and, spared the pressures of teeming voter lines, was all too happy to discuss the Hometown Nine (these kids don’t know the fundamentals like they used to, he correctly opined, unfavorably comparing players of contemporary vintage to past heroes such as Al Bumbry and Paul Blair).
The logistics of the experience were convenient, easy and quick. The takeaway from said experience, however, was deeply troubling to the voter. For, it must be mentioned again, he was the only one there.
Voter turnout statistics provided by the State Board of Elections confirmed that this voter’s experience was hardly anomalous and proved that, sometimes, data can be the plural of anecdote. In all, 185,031 Marylanders participated in early voting – just five percent of our state’s 3,686,499 eligible and active voters. Roughly 165,000 ballots have been received by mail, meaning that, to the best of our knowledge, fewer than 10 percent of Maryland voters have cast a ballot as we prepare for Tuesday’s traditional Election Day.
Let us pause here. At a time when voting has become easier and more convenient than at any other time in our history, the citizenry of Maryland – a federal government enclave and one of the most affluent, educated states in the union – is reacting with a collective shrug of indifference.
There are plenty of plausible theories to explain this apathy, and one imagines they will be duly unpacked by both objective political scientists and self-serving political operatives once the proverbial dust settles.
The absence of a competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary for the first time since 2010.
The prevalence of non-competitive legislative races in this age of slates, tickets and heavily gerrymandered, single-party districts.
The perceived pointlessness of Republican primaries in a blue state where Democrats control the House of Delegates 102-39, the State Senate 34-13, and control every state and local office in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Baltimore City.
The loss of trust in our institutions of politics and government, at evidenced by a recent Pew Research poll that found only 17 percent of Americans trust their federal government to do the right thing “all or most of the time.” One can scarcely imagine that number being markedly higher in a state that has absorbed the blow of 31,000 lost federal jobs since Donald Trump took office.
Each of these reasons have merit, as do at least half a dozen other potential catalysts one could cite.
That said, one cause of plummeting Democratic and Republican voter engagement stands above the rest due to its sheer obviousness and logic:
People are turned off by the two major parties that control the primary system.
Consider that, between 2010 and 2025, Republican voter registration in Maryland increased from 937,711 to 1,022,062 – a bump of just nine percent.
No kidding, the good Democrat might say. Who, in their right mind, would want to join a party that has been taken over at the national level by Donald Trump and a veritable Darwin’s waiting room of white nationalists, Proud Boys and J6 insurrectionists?
Except that there has hardly been a wave of Democratic registration. During that same timeframe, Democratic voter registration grew from 1,969,155 to 2,210,711 – an increase of just 12 percent.
Naturally, the rock-ribbed Republican would say. The national Democratic Party has been occupied by a motley assortment of self-proclaimed socialists, sneering coastal elites and radicals who regard vile anti-Semitic chants and anti-American rhetoric as hipster performance art!
While both parties continue to lurch further toward their polar extremes, Marylanders of more middle temperament are walking away in disgust. Between December 2010 and 2025, the number of Marylanders registered as “Unaffiliated” has increased from 536,436 to 984,920 – a surge of 84 percent.
Clearly, even if one accounts for a small subset of voters who choose to register as unaffiliated as a matter of professional necessity – think judges, journalists and federal employees – the numbers make clear that Marylanders are deeply dissatisfied with the base-driven politics of the present and feel as if neither party is speaking to their aspirations or concerns.
These people, as all of us know, are excluded from voting in our primary elections. And our political process lay in tatters as a result.
Sensible people on both sides of the aisle are desperate for candidates who will focus on everyday issues that most directly affect their daily lives, and who will be willing to sacrifice reflexive adherence to political ideology for the sake of making government work again.
Meanwhile, our elected incumbents recognize that in their gerrymandered, blood red and royal blue districts, the only way they will ever lose re-election is not to a member of the opposite party in November, but in a primary challenge from their far left or far right. Placate the red-hot habitues of their party’s flank, and four more years await. The incumbent councilmember, executive, delegate or member of Congress can spend an entire career in public life without needing to reach across the aisle to pitch the merits of their ideas.
Those who dare to test this calculus by – quelle horreur! – working with a member of the opposition to achieve positive outcomes for their constituents will, almost inevitably, find themselves fighting for their political lives against the loudest, most bellicose and ideologically extreme activists within their respective parties. Who get to flex disproportionate political muscle within party primaries in which few bother to vote.
This has to stop. This never-ending doom loop of extremism, partisan disengagement and voter apathy is turning what should be good-faith contests of credentials, character and ideas into races to the bottom. Ones to which a steadily dwindling number of informed voters and candidates of stature are willing to subject themselves.
By allowing the surging number of unaffiliated voters to choose the primary ballot of their choice, and hold the candidates of that party to the expectation that they will discuss real solutions and deliver real results, the tenor of our political debate will, however slowly, begin to creep from the political end zones and back to the middle of the field.
And maybe- just maybe – we can make that loneliest of polling place on South Poppleton Street a true center for engagement once again.
