---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local Government - Municipal Elections - No-Excuse Absentee Voting"
description: "Local Government - Municipal Elections - No-Excuse Absentee Voting"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 730"
citation: "Maryland SB 730 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Municipalities", "Elections", "Ballots", "Municipal Corporations", "Voting"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Smith"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 19
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2018-02-05"
last_action: "2018-05-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/628fd9e5-d52a-4cca-b2a5-16cf8af9a40f"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB730&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs"
source_hash: "f15480896a27e0b4536a5f13545b8b6550287ab64968fea37e9473382abde385"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-md"]
---

# Maryland SB 730 (2018) — Local Government - Municipal Elections - No-Excuse Absentee Voting

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/bills/sb/sb0730f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **48–86** (fail) · lower
- On Third Reading — **133–1** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **38–7** (pass) · upper
- Floor amendment Ready /863025/1 — **16–26** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Smith — primary (person)
- Ramirez — cosponsor (person)
- Young — cosponsor (person)
- Zucker — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-02-05** First Reading Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-05** Hearing 3/01 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-03-12** Favorable Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-13** Favorable `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-13** Special Order until later today (Senator Ready) Adopted
- **2018-03-13** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-13** Floor Amendment {863025/1 (Senator Ready) Rejected (16-26) `amendment-failure`
- **2018-03-13** Second Reading Passed
- **2018-03-15** Third Reading Passed (38-7) `passage`
- **2018-03-15** First Reading Ways and Means `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-19** Hearing 3/27 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-03-29** Favorable Report by Ways and Means `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-29** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-29** Second Reading Passed
- **2018-03-30** Special Order until later this session (Delegate B. Barnes) Adopted
- **2018-03-30** Floor Amendment {833222/1 (Delegate Kipke) Rejected (48-86) `amendment-failure`
- **2018-03-30** Third Reading Passed (133-1) `passage`
- **2018-04-02** Returned Passed
- **2018-05-15** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 745 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/628fd9e5-d52a-4cca-b2a5-16cf8af9a40f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).