Annapolis election officials outline 2025 mail‑in changes, canvassing timeline and ballot rules

Miss Leahy, chair of the Board of Supervisors of Elections, told the Annapolis City Council at a Feb. 20 virtual work session that several code changes and administrative steps will affect how the city runs the 2025 municipal elections, from how voters request mail‑in ballots to when officials will begin processing returned ballots.

Leahy said all municipal mail‑in ballots in 2025 will require a separate application to the Annapolis Board of Elections, even for voters who already receive mail ballots for state or federal contests. "If you already think you're getting a mail in ballot because you got one for the presidential, that's not gonna happen," she said, adding that the city cannot automatically tap into the county's mail‑in list.

Those who use mail‑in ballots must sign an oath on the ballot envelope; Leahy said the city will implement a curing process so staff can contact voters if the oath is missing and allow the voter to correct the envelope before a statutory deadline. Ballots will be mailed with prepaid postage, must be postmarked by election day and must be received by the board no later than 10 a.m. the Tuesday after the election (Leahy cited example dates of Sept. 23 and Nov. 11). Voters also will be able to deposit ballots at one of eight drop boxes around the city; Leahy said drop boxes will be monitored by camera and emptied twice daily by bipartisan county staff once they are deployed roughly 30 days before the primary.

On canvassing — the formal process of opening and counting ballots — Leahy said the Board of Elections plans to follow the state's practice and begin limited canvassing eight business days before each election to process mail‑in ballots in a controlled setting. For the primary she named Sept. 4 and for the general Oct. 23 as the pre‑election canvass start dates; she stressed those early totals are not official and canvassing will resume and finish on the Tuesday after the election, when provisional ballots also are counted. Leahy noted the canvassing procedure is drafted but not yet codified in city code and said staff have submitted or will submit the ordinance language for review.

The city will keep in‑person polling locations the same as prior elections. Voters who go to the wrong ward may cast provisional ballots for some offices, Leahy said. She also confirmed the city does not have the equipment or software to offer early voting and that adding early voting would require substantial resources and possibly running the election through another system.

Mitchell Stephenson, the city's public information officer, summarized the communications plan for 2025 and said broad public outreach will begin in July to align with candidate filing and other deadlines. "We are not partisan," he told the council, describing the city's role as providing factual voting information rather than endorsing candidates. Stephenson said the plan includes traditional and low‑cost tactics — posters at transit stops, monitors at city facilities, outreach to HOAs and business groups, and social media rapid‑response for misinformation — because a full USPS mailing to all households would be expensive.

On campaign finance and ballot‑question rules, Leahy said the council and elections office have adopted several changes. The council can now place questions on the ballot; citizen petitions to place a question must gather signatures equal to 10% of registered city voters (Leahy estimated roughly 2,800–3,000 signatures) and include a minimum of 250 signatures from each ward. Campaign finance reporting will move toward standardized, fully online templates; the city will assess late fees for amended reports at $20 per day up to a $500 maximum, and the rules now allow surplus campaign funds to be donated to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Annapolis as an alternative to giving them to the city or central committees.

Council members raised policy options that would require further work or state coordination, including moving municipal elections to the state/federal cycle, creating open primaries, adopting nonpartisan ballots and exploring ranked‑choice voting. Leahy and others cautioned that most of those options carry technical, legal, cost and implementation issues — including software certification, machine procurement, and fiscal year budgeting — and therefore could not be implemented in time for 2025 without additional decisions and funding.

Leahy encouraged council members to direct the Board of Supervisors of Elections if they want staff to draft ordinances or pursue particular recommendations from a task force that studied municipal elections. She also invited council members to the board's monthly meetings and said staff will continue outreach and coordination with the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections and the Maryland State Board of Elections.

What this means for voters: to use a mail‑in ballot in the 2025 Annapolis municipal elections, residents must apply specifically to the City of Annapolis; mail‑in envelopes must contain a signed oath (which the city will attempt to cure if missing); ballots must meet postmark and receipt deadlines; and petition sponsors who seek to place questions on the municipal ballot must meet the new signature thresholds and ward distribution requirements. City staff said the election office and the city's communications team will publish details, templates and a public schedule in the months leading up to candidate filing and voting deadlines.

The Board of Supervisors of Elections and the city's public information office will continue to refine administrative procedures and outreach plans; the board noted canvassing language remains under review and other ordinance changes would need council direction to proceed.