The Washington Post is reporting that a petition drive to put the Maryland Death Penalty Repeal to referendum is having trouble collecting the required number of signatures needed to petition the law to referendum. In the article, The Washington Post quotes Maryland State Senator James Brochin, one of the supporters of putting the law to referendum.
“I’m concerned we’re not going to make it,” said Sen. James Brochin (D-Baltimore County). “It’s been hard to know where to go for signatures.”
. . .
Brochin said that on same-sex marriage, churches were an obvious target for signature gathering. There is no similar ready-made constituency related to repeal of the death penalty, he said.
“It’s a lot harder to do this than other issues,” he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
In order to put the law to referendum, the petitioners must turn in 18,579 signatures of Maryland registered voters by midnight tomorrow night, and an additional 37,157 signatures by the end of June.
The group collecting signatures was previously successful in petitioning to referendum the Maryland DREAM Act and the law allowing same sex marriage in Maryland. These referendum efforts were unsuccessful as a majority of Maryland voters agreed that these laws should go into effect.
Governor O'Malley has been a strong supporter of repealing the death penalty. In his testimony before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on February 14, 2013 in support of repealing the death penalty, Governor O'Malley testified:
Finally, across our ever-more-closely connected world, the majority of public executions now take place in just seven countries: Iran. Iraq. The People’s Republic of China. North Korea. Saudi Arabia. Yemen. And the United States of America.
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, our free and diverse Republic was not founded on fear, or on revenge, or on retribution. Freedom, justice, the dignity of every individual, equal rights before the law – these are the principals that define our character. They are the treasures of our great nation, and the death penalty is inconsistent with these principles.
http://www.governor.maryland.gov/...
Governor O'Malley also previously testified in support of repealing the death penalty in 2009. However, that year the majority of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee voted against repealing the death penalty.
This year the bill was able to get out of committee and was passed by the Maryland Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.
If the referendum fails, the death penalty repeal will go into effect on October 1, 2013.
7:06 PM PT: I wanted to clarify any confusion about the purpose of the referendum. The people trying to gather the signatures to put the death penalty repeal to referendum are in favor of the death penalty. If they gather enough signatures, the Maryland voters will decide whether or not the death penalty will be repealed.
Fortunately, it looks like they won't gather enough signatures, and the death penalty repeal will take effect on October 1, 2013.