---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation"
description: "Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 596"
citation: "Maryland SB 596 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Washington"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-29"
last_action: "2021-05-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f931baa6-9588-4c04-b6bb-d8e5c43bea4e"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0596?ys=2021RS&search=True"
source_hash: "9f6501a1e685aa85d1b9ca90da1da5b23d55d3c1c7de234248a2f7147ee0d67b"
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 596 (2021) — Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/Chapters_noln/CH_659_sb0596t.pdf)
2. **First - Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0596f.pdf)
3. **Third - Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0596t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **118–18** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **47–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Washington — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-29** First Reading Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-02** Hearing 2/18 at 11:00 a.m.
- **2021-03-02** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-03** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-03** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2021-03-04** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-03-05** Referred Ways and Means `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-08** Hearing 3/23 at 1:30 p.m.
- **2021-03-22** Hearing canceled
- **2021-03-22** Hearing 3/23 at 1:30 p.m.
- **2021-04-05** Favorable Report by Ways and Means `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-05** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-06** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-07** Returned Passed
- **2021-05-30** Enacted under Article II, Section 17(c) of the Maryland Constitution - Chapter 659 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f931baa6-9588-4c04-b6bb-d8e5c43bea4e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).