Thanks to those who sent in feedback! Here is some of the feedback that we received.
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Mail-In Ballots
Dear Mr. Melby: hopefully you will receive this note. Approximately two weeks ago I received my ballot. I completed the ballot the weekend of May 16/17. One Tuesday May 19, 2026 we drove up to the Post Office on Shady Grove Road and mailed the ballot envelope. When I returned home there was an e-mail message from the Board of Election concerning the mess up. Since I already mailed my ballot they will have to count it. I think the whole situation may have been caused by incompetence at the BOE. Hope this helps.
I asked the Board of Elections what would happen if I voted for the 2 females. I was told my choices would be completely invalidated, because more than half of my selections were the same gender. This means the 1 male automatically gets one of the 2 seats, and the 2 females have to fight for the one remaining seat.
A second race has 14 people running for 8 seats, including 7 males, 6 females and one non-binary. You can vote for up to 8 persons, but again no more than half can be the same gender. I asked the Board of Elections what happens if I voted for 5 females because I did not like the 6th female. Again, they said all of my choices would be invalidated. They also indicated the non-binary is a completely separate third gender. The county would also treat agender and two-spirit persons as separate genders, although they were unclear as to how omnigender and polygender people would be treated. Unfortunately, Montgomery County is becoming more like California every day!
More importantly, why does the democrat party even have gender caps??? Are caps based on race and religion next?
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The recent ballot debacle in Maryland is more than a technical glitch; it is a symptom of a political culture that has abandoned accountability.
When institutions treat half a million voters like afterthoughts, they aren't just failing a process—they are signaling their contempt for the people they serve.
For too long, we have watched a rigid, lockstep agenda stifle the very competition and original thinking that keeps a society healthy.
The result is a landscape where ideas are crushed under the weight of partisan conformity, leaving residents with fewer choices and a shrinking sense of agency.
This environment is why so many have felt forced to leave, abandoning the ground rather than fighting for the future of their communities. But those of us who remain have a unique opportunity. By staying, we act as a necessary mirror to a system that has grown comfortable in its own stagnation.
We aren't here to mimic the bullying tactics or the hollow uniformity of our opponents. We are here to prove that another way is possible.
Every act of engagement, every challenge to the status quo, and every voice raised in dissent is a demonstration that this county belongs to the people, not the machine.
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You asked for comments about the recent "mail-in ballot" screwup. I served as a Chief Election Judge in 10 Montgomery County elections until my health could no longer endure the 18 to 20-hour-long job on "Election Day." I have some thoughts on the general incompetence and waste inherent in the overall election process in Maryland. There are two root causes for election problems:
Personnel Incompetence. Our public school system has become an entertainment and babysitting service rather than an educational process. Many of our so-called "high school graduates" have not mastered the fundamental knowledge, critical thinking, or responsibility for getting assignments done well that is essential for success in life. That is exemplified in the substandard competence of those "graduates" when they enter the workforce. Those who speak English as a Second Language often have difficulty communicating effectively. They are then hired by governments and government contractors, resulting in poor government performance, including preparation for and execution of elections. I have seen firsthand the decline in work force talent both in business and in the election process.
Many of the Election Board's teams of "trainers" could barely speak English understandably and were generally insufficiently knowledgeable of the unnecessarily complex detailed election procedures and poorly prepared to teach them. Those responsible for planning the logistics of setting up the county's 306 polling places hadn't bother to visit the sites and, in my last polling place, were even unaware that the Chief Judge's cell phone (to make required communications with the Board and Roamers during the election) would not work in the polling place because of shielding issues. They just assumed that everything would work as written in the instructions. And all too often, I had to deal with an insufficient number of team members and inadequately trained election workers. I even had to order a supposedly expert "Roamer" out of my polling place because he could not speak English coherently and I caught him interfering with the work of my provisional ballot judge. AND THE BOARD STAFF HAD TWO YEARS TO PLAN FOR AND PREPARE FOR EACH ELECTION CYCLE!
Waste of Tax Dollars. The state and local election boards pretend to "save money" by hiring cheap, but incompetent staff. They also "save money" by failing to develop and print election judge manuals that are easy to use and available for home study in preparation of elections. The manuals have always been written by staff "committees" but never systematically reviewed before each election to simplify unnecessarily complex detailed procedures and get rid of the redundancy and conflicting instructions in different sections of the manual written by different people. (A camel is a racehorse developed by a committee!) And every election, there are last minute changes that have to be printed as additional information. Once upon a time, manuals were printed in advance and issued to every election judge before or during training. But more recently, that hasn't been done. Now election judges never get to even see a manual, and the first time the Chief Judge gets to see a complete manual is when ONE COPY is issued to each polling place and only then on election day. (The training sessions only use a separately printed, much abbreviated handout.)
To further complicate the 2024 election process, some "genius" decided that the Board should invest in hundreds of special-purpose computer tablets to call in required election day reports instead of using the simpler, no cost, already possessed cell phone that each Chief Judge already owned. Unfortunately, when the tablets were first mandated, the "trainers" did not even know how to train the election judges in their use. And, to make matters worse, only a few minutes of the three-hour mandatory classroom training session (which was already insufficient) were devoted to "turning on" and "looking at the menu" on the computer tablets. There was no actual use in class, and they were subsequently not available to the Chief Judges until the morning of election day.
These special purpose, custom built communication computers also store a complete copy of the latest election manual and supplementary instructions, but since the Chief Judges don't get them until election day, there is no time to review or practice with them in advance. Consequently, this computer "modernization" comprised more of a hinderance than a useful aid to the judges. It would have been a much better idea to use that money to simplify the manual and produce a .pdf copy that every judge could have on their personal computers to study and practice on and that the Chief Judges could consult on election day. But that's not allowed!
I would love to know how much money was wasted on buying those hundreds of custom-built computers (and backup spares) to solve a nonexistent communication problem!
Finally, each election cycle, the election board wastes an enormous amount of money in preparing and printing millions of mail-in ballots for the elections. Maybe that's why the Board cannot afford to hire competent staff and simplify election day procedures. I often wonder if the main reason that the Board cannot recruit enough workers for election day is because of the orneriness of the elaborately detailed election day procedures.
In summary, the election process suffers from many self-inflicted wounds! It's a wonder that an election-voiding catastrophe has not yet occurred. But one day it will.