Local Voices: Supreme Court’s Data Center Ruling Proves Maryland’s Petition Process Is Broken by Design

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The Maryland Supreme Court upheld a circuit court decision that denies the voters of Frederick County the ability to decide the fate of the county’s data center overlay in this November’s general election. It ends a referendum effort that more than 21,000 residents signed onto. Andy Ellis, a Green Party candidate for Governor, called the outcome a symptom of a petition process that is broken at its core.

“I have worked for years to make the petition process better for grassroots movements. Most of the people in power want to do everything they can to keep this process inaccessible and easily defeated in court,” said Ellis. “No one should be able to collect 21,000 signatures after being told the petition was sufficient, only for a court to strike it down at the end of the process. This is bad for democracy, by design. We must fix this.”

Referendum by petition is one of the few tools Marylanders have to check decisions made over their objections. But the rules governing signatures, form, and certification are a minefield, one technical enough that a campaign can do everything right, clear every bar it’s told to clear, and still be thrown out after the work is done. Frederick is the latest community to learn that the hard way.

The stakes in Frederick are concrete. The data center overlay clears the way for a rapid buildout of energy and water-hungry facilities.

“The people of Frederick County may not get to vote on the referendum in November, but they can still reject the rapid buildout of data centers by voting for candidates who stand in opposition,” said Ellis. “We will be in the county a lot between now and November, letting voters know they have a choice for Governor who opposes the agenda of the data centers, the tech companies, and the politicians who do their bidding.”

The campaign backs modernizing Maryland’s petition and referendum laws, including making a sufficiency determination mean what it says, so grassroots efforts can’t be thrown out on technicalities after the signatures are collected. Read the full position at https://www.gogreen2026.com/democracy

About the Ellis/Andrews Campaign

Andy Ellis and Owen Silverman Andrews are running for Governor and Lt. Governor as Green Party candidates. You can learn more about the campaign at https://www.gogreen2026.com/.

Andy Ellis is Seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor of MD in 2026, all opinions are his own and do not reflect those of our clients or sponsors.

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