U.S. Supreme Court rejects election case filed by former GOP candidate Cox

Former Republican candidate for governor Dan Cox suffered two losses on Tuesday: The Supreme Court declined to consider his appeal of Maryland’s ballot-counting schedule and he lost out on a contract to provide legal services to the Wicomico County government.

Cox, who lost to Democrat Wes Moore by a 2-to-1 margin, had waged an unsuccessful legal battle over ballot counting during the election last year.

He argued that the state’s plans to confidentially tally vote-by-mail ballots as they arrived ahead of Election Day was counter to Maryland law. The state had gotten an emergency court order to do so and Cox said that no emergency existed that warranted overriding the schedule set out in state law.

Cox lost in Montgomery County Circuit Court and what is now known as the Supreme Court of Maryland. He took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which noted without comment on its website Tuesday: “Petition DENIED.”

The Daily Record first reported the Supreme Court’s decision not to consider Cox’s case.

Cox also was not awarded a contract to provide legal services for the Wicomico County government, which was proposed by County Executive Julie Giordano.

According to The Salisbury Daily Times newspaper there were objections to the contract from both Republican and Democratic members of the County Council, as well as activists and members of the community.

Council members questioned whether Cox had the appropriate legal experience to be the county’s special counsel, and whether he had time for the job, given he recently landed a position as chief of staff to Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano.

Cox was scheduled to appear at a Wicomico County Council meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, but The Salisbury Daily Times reported he was a no-show.

Cox couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning.

pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com