State Bd. of Elections v. Ambridge

Summary

The Court reversed the circuit court’s order concerning Baltimore City’s Question F and remanded for judgment in favor of the appellants. It held that the statutory procedure for reviewing ballot content and arrangement does not permit substantive challenges to a legislatively initiated charter amendment or to ballot language drafted by the City Law Department, and that the challengers’ alternative statutory claims were barred by laches. The Court nevertheless held that the ballot language satisfied the minimum reasonable-clarity standard. The Court declined to decide whether the charter-material framework applies to legislatively initiated charter amendments.