Judge Greenberg Rules Term Limits Charter Amendment Can Go on Nov. Ballot

In a decision entered today, Judge Robert Greenberg has ruled that the term limits charter amendment petition that was certified by the Montgomery County Board of Elections (BOE) last month can be placed on the Nov. 8th ballot.

This decision is good news for local attorney and community activist Robin Ficker, who organized the petition drive to get the term limits question, also known as Question B, on the ballot.

On Sept. 2nd, the “No on B” organization filed a court challenge to that petition, questioning the validity of many of the signatures.

Ficker’s petition included over 17,000 signatures but for a variety of reason the BOE rejected over 5,000 of them. Still, Ficker collected 2,573 more signatures than the 10,000 required to put the proposed amendment on the ballot.

The judge ruled that the procedures utilized by the BOE in reviewing the petition comply with Maryland law.

After today’s decision was announced, Rockville resident Tom Moore, the chair of “No on B,” said his organization is reviewing the judge’s ruling and may appeal the decision.

In an interview last week, Ficker told MyMCMedia he was “very confident” that term limits would be on the ballot in November. “I see no reason why people should try to keep this off the ballot,” he said. “Let’s have a free and robust discussion of term limits on the November ballot.”

About Sonya Burke

Sonya Burke is the Multimedia Manager at Montgomery Community Media (MCM). You can email story ideas at sburke@mymcmedia.org or reach her on Twitter @SonyaNBurke.

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