How to Vote in the 2022 Maryland Primary Elections

As Maryland goes through the redistricting process, there have been a few changes in terms of dates, deadlines, and districts for the upcoming Maryland primary this summer. This post will walk through what you need to do to register to vote and submit your ballot in the primaries.

Voting & elections

May 12, 2022

How to vote in a primary

Voting in the primaries is just like voting in the general election, with one major exception: you have to be a member of a political party if you want to vote in that party’s primary. In other words, voters who are registered as independent or 3rd party cannot vote in the Democratic nor the Republican primary elections.

How to register to vote/update your voter registration

You can register to vote during early voting at any early voting center in your county or on Election Day at your polling station. You must bring proof of address.

If you need to verify whether or not you are registered to vote, you can do so online.

How to vote by mail

1. You can request a mail-in ballot using an online form if you have a Maryland ID. The deadline is Tuesday, July 12th

2. You can also visit your local board of elections and fill out a mail-in ballot request form in person.

The State Board of Elections website also has an online resource which allows you to track the status of your mail-in ballot.

Maryland has a new program called the permanent absentee ballot list. If you want to get a mail-in ballot for every future election, you can sign up for this list while requesting a mail-in ballot. Once you’re on the list, you’ll receive a ballot in the mail for every future election you are eligible to vote in without having to fill out a mail-in ballot request form for each election.

How to vote in person

Due to redistricting, the primary dates have been pushed back. Early voting will now run from from 7:00am -8:00pm daily between Thursday, July 7th and Thursday, July 14th. During this period, you can vote at any of the early voting locations in your county.

The primary election day is Thursday, July 19th. You can vote at your assigned polling precinct anytime from 7 am to 8 pm.

Redistricting

Maryland has adopted new district boundaries in response to the 2020 census in a process known as redistricting. As a result, you may live in a different district and have different representatives than you did in the last election. You can use the following resources to your district for federal and state elections:

2022 Maryland Congressional Districts–Interactive Map

2022 Maryland State House Districts–Interactive Map

2022 Maryland State Senate Districts–Interactive Map

Different counties are at different points in the redistricting process. You can find information about the local redistricting process and/or updated maps of local precincts in your county here: