Maryland moves to fill Republican vacancies on elections board

Maryland leaders are taking steps to fill two Republican vacancies on the state elections board — one because a board member resigned after being charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Gov. Wes Moore has nominated Diane Butler to the Maryland State Board of Elections, sending her name to the state Senate on Wednesday for its review and confirmation.

Butler has been a member of the Howard County Board of Elections and has run for school board in that county. Her name was sent to Moore, a Democrat, for consideration by the Maryland Republican Party.

Moore wrote in a message to the Senate: “This individual brings exceptional knowledge and ability to the office for which they have been nominated.”

The state party also recommended Jim Shalleck, a Montgomery County lawyer who ran for state attorney general in 2022, according to Adam Wood, the state party executive director. Shalleck is a former president of the Montgomery County elections board.

Moore is holding off on acting on Shalleck’s nomination because he is running to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention, said Carter Elliott IV, the governor’s spokesman.

“Because he is actively running in an election, he cannot be appointed to the State Board of Elections at this time,” Elliott said in a statement. “Governor Moore will take action on his nomination after the upcoming primary election.”

The Maryland State Board of Elections is composed of five members, three from the same party as the governor — Democrats, in this case — and two from the minority party, currently the Republicans. The state parties offer names to the governor, who reviews them and makes nominations to the state Senate, which confirms members before they are appointed.

Earlier this year, Republican elections board member Carlos Ayala resigned after being charged in federal court with civil disorder, a felony, and other counts related to his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob overran the building as the 2020 election results were being certified.

Ayala was confirmed by the Senate and seated on the elections board in 2023. Senators asked no questions of Ayala during his confirmation hearing and he sailed through a vote by the full Senate. Legislative leaders pledged to more thoroughly vet nominees following Ayala’s resignation.

Two other Republican Party nominees to the elections board did not make it through the process in 2023.

Republicans suggested William Newton, who Moore’s office declined to advance after finding he did not meet the governor’s standards. Newton has filled a website and his social media feeds with bits and pieces of information he argues adds up to evidence of election fraud.

Republicans then offered Christine McCloud of Howard County, who Moore forwarded to the Senate. She struggled in her confirmation hearing and the Senate Executive Nominations Committee rejected her nomination.

Pamela Wood

pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com

Pamela Wood covers Maryland politics and government. She previously reported for The Baltimore Sun, The Capital and other Maryland newspapers. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, she lives in northern Anne Arundel County.

More from Pamela Wood

‘Non-endorsement’ endorsements appear in Democratic primaries

May 07, 2024

In the US Senate primary, will the Baltimore region decide the winner?

May 07, 2024

More From The Banner

Secret in the walls: Hidden letters reveal love, lust, scandal in 1920s Baltimore society

Grieving my brother and the Key Bridge

Sheila Dixon, a ‘filthy’ street and residents who want politicians to put up or shut up

The Climb: Mount St. Joseph’s seniors embark on century-old rite of passage