The federal district court for the district of Maryland has entered an order reducing Maryland's petitioning requirements for the Green Party of Maryland and the Libertarian Party of Maryland by 50 percent -- from 10,000 to 5,000 signatures -- as a result of a lawsuit CCD filed in partnership with pro bono counsel H. Mark Stichel of the law firm Astrachan Gunst Thomas.
Pursuant to the court's order, entered on June 19, 2020, the Green and Libertarian parties are also authorized to collect petition signatures electronically, via an online platform the parties developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the second case in which CCD has won petitioning relief for minor parties and independent candidates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first case was in Illinois, where a federal court on April 23, 2020 entered an order reducing Illinois' signature requirements, extending its filing deadline, and authorizing electronic petitioning procedures, among other relief.