---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Law - Absentee Ballots - State and Federal Requirements"
description: "Election Law - Absentee Ballots - State and Federal Requirements"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 949"
citation: "Maryland SB 949 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kagan"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-06"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9116ec31-0ef0-4fdb-bdcf-7dce84e5f262"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0949?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "fd994abf7310ca36d78becb8edb11389424b65e0dfe1aa53a47bfae4eb9b1cf1"
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 949 (2026) — Election Law - Absentee Ballots - State and Federal Requirements

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Election Law - Absentee Ballots - State and Federal Requirements** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_440_sb0949t.pdf)
2. **First - Election Law - Canvassing of Absentee Ballots - Preemption by Federal Judicial Action** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0949f.pdf)
3. **Third - Election Law - Absentee Ballots - State and Federal Requirements** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0949t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading (Emerg) — **35–10** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading (Emerg) — **96–36** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kagan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-06** First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-10** Hearing 2/25 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Motion Laid Over (Senator Jennings) Adopted
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Referred Rules and Executive Nominations `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-13** Rereferred to Government, Labor, and Elections
- **2026-04-13** Favorable Report by Government, Labor, and Elections `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-13** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-13** Second Reading Passed
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 440 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9116ec31-0ef0-4fdb-bdcf-7dce84e5f262`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).