HB979: Constitutional Convention Reform
Favorable · Rules and Executive Nominations Committee · February 09, 2026
Oral testimony by Andy Ellis, Green Party candidate for Governor
Full Title: Constitutional Convention - Determination of Approval by Voters
Sponsors: Delegates Hornberger, Stewart
MGA Page: HB979
Testimony as Prepared
My name is Andy Ellis and I am a Green Party candidate for governor. Back in the summer I had a new team member and he was very excited about a Maryland constitutional convention so I started digging in to it. What I found was very interesting.
Currently there are two ways to send a Maryland constitutional amendment to the voters.
One is to have this body pass an amendment.
The other is a constitutional convention. The mechanism for that is in Article XIV Section 2 which lays out that every 20 years the voters shall be asked if they want to call a constitutional convention. The convention is called "...if a majority of voters at such election shall vote for a Convention..."
This is interpreted to require a majority of all individuals who show up to vote in that election, regardless of whether they vote on the convention question.
This is a higher bar than any other constitutionally dictated question, including any amendments the convention would send to voters.
The 2010 referendum on the constitutional convention is a perfect case study of how this works.
For a Convention: 897,239 votes
Against a Convention: 751,228 votes
The measure won with 54.4% support among those who voted on it.
However because there were 216,817 blank ballots on this question and a total of 1,865,284 people cast ballots in the election, the 897,239 "For" votes represented only 48.1% of all voters. Despite a clear majority of engaged voters in favor, the measure failed.
If that math is confusing, that explains why we need this bill.
The question to call a convention should be treated like every other question, and decided by a majority of voters who vote on the question.
I urge a favorable report on HB 979.
Andy Ellis is seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor of Maryland. He and his running mate Owen Silverman Andrews are the only active statewide candidates using Maryland's Fair Campaign Financing Fund.
Related
Campaign: Multiparty Democracy
See Also: HB1403: Citizen Initiative Process