Voting Rights Act for Maryland stirred emotions well before Monday meltdown
The Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 was already stirring strong emotional responses, even before it led the House of Delegates to explode in a shouting match in the final minutes of the legislative session Monday night.
The emergency legislation, which lets citizens or the attorney general sue county and local governments over their voting plans, is the “right and fair” thing to do, the way Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County) sees it. To Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) it’s little more than another attempt by the Democratic majority to “rig the system.”
But to Del. Greg Wims (D-Montgomery), who has been involved in voting rights advocacy in Maryland for more than 50 years, it’s needed now more than ever.
Wims, now 76, told a short story to the House Saturday on his work as president of the state NAACP that helped the late Randolph “Rudy” Cane become the Eastern Shore’s first Black elected state representative in 1998.
https://marylandmatters.org/2026/04/15/voting-rights-act-for-maryland-stirred-emotions-well-before-monday-meltdown/