---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters"
description: "Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 257"
citation: "Maryland SB 257 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-09-18"
last_action: "2025-05-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7666fdc0-e223-427e-970f-f2fe68733e60"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0257?ys=2025RS&search=True"
source_hash: "d4785444eaa7c8df55d13278ded677773a4f70aa6d40df6cf4cfdea11fdc0653"
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 257 (2025) — Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_279_sb0257t.pdf)
2. **First - Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0257f.pdf)
3. **Third - Election Law - Notice to Permanent Absentee Voters** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0257t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **36–10** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **105–33** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chair, Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee — primary (organization)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-09-18** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2025-01-08** First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-14** Hearing 2/05 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-02-03** Hearing canceled
- **2025-02-03** Hearing 2/05 at 2:00 p.m.
- **2025-02-24** Favorable Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-25** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-25** Second Reading Passed
- **2025-02-27** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-02-28** Referred Ways and Means `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-03** Hearing 3/18 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-04-02** Favorable Report by Ways and Means `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-02** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-03** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-04** Returned Passed
- **2025-05-06** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 279 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7666fdc0-e223-427e-970f-f2fe68733e60`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).