A federal judge in Baltimore dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt the 2024 election in Maryland.
The lawsuit filed earlier this year by two organizations alleged that the Maryland State Board of Elections violated state and federal election law as well as the Maryland Public Information Act.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher, in dismissing the case, said the “plaintiffs lack standing to bring their claims and this court therefore lacks subject matter jurisdiction.”
Two groups — Maryland Election Integrity LLC and Missouri-based United Sovereign Americans — filed suit in March against the state board and an amended complaint in April. The suit alleged the state board maintained inaccurate voter registration lists and violated federal election law. Earlier this month, the groups asked Gallagher to issue an injunction preventing the board from certifying election results until the errors are fixed.
United Sovereign Americans and Maryland Election Integrity were the plaintiffs in the amended complaint. As such, the two would have either had to establish their own right to ask the court to intervene or act as representatives of members who were harmed, according to the opinion.
C. Edward Hartman III, an Annapolis-based attorney, representing the two groups, was not immediately available for comment. Hartman represented Dan Cox, then the Republican nominee for governor, in a failed 2022 bid to block the early counting of mail-in ballots that year.
