Background on Maryland politics and the primary system

In order to aid Blazers who will be going to the polls for the first time, Silver Chips Online has decided to provide background information on Maryland politics and explain certain concepts that may not be fully understood regarding who is elected to represent who and at what level.

Like most states, Maryland has a "closed" primary system, meaning that voters registered as members of a specific party can only vote for candidates of that party. All voters vote in races deemed "non-partisan" (such as the Board of Education race). The winners of the Democratic primary and the Republican primary will face one another in the General Election in November, in which all voters can vote for any candidate from any party.

Here is a brief description of what different "districts" are, what they mean and what specific elections they are associated with:

For the purpose of federal elections, Maryland is divided into eight "Congressional districts," each containing approximately 600,000 people and represented by one Representative in the United States House of Representatives. Three of the eight districts contain some part of Montgomery County, and two contain the majority of Blair students. Blair itself and most Blazers are part of the obliquely-shaped District Eight, which contains western Montgomery County and some areas directly northeast of DC and is currently represented by Democrat Chris Van Hollen. Some Blazers fall into the boundaries of District Four, which contains northeastern Montgomery County and part of southeastern Montgomery County and is currently represented by Democrat Albert Wynn. District Six contains Damascus and other areas of northern Montgomery County, where relatively few Blazers live. Every representative faces re-election every two years, and Blazers will vote for candidates in their parties depending on which district they live in.

While races for the House of Representatives depend on which district one lives in, races for the Senate are conducted on a state-wide level. Maryland, just like every other state, has two Senators in the United States Senate. Rather than represent specific geographic areas of the state, each Senator represents the entire state and must face re-election every six years. Paul Sarbaines is the "Senior Senator" and is the longest-serving Senator in Maryland history. He will face re-election in 2006. Barbara Mikulski is the "Junior Senator" and faces re-election this year.

For representation on the state level, Maryland is divided into 47 "Legislative districts" for representation in the Maryland General Assembly. Like Congressional districts, Legislative districts each represent approximately the same number of people. Each Legislative district has three Delegates in the Maryland House of Representatives and one Senator in the Maryland State Senate. Most of the Blair community is contained in District 20, which is currently represented by State Senator Ida Ruben and Delegates Peter Franchot, Gareth Murray and Sheila Hixon, none of whom are facing re-election this year.

For the purposes of representation on a county-wide level, Montgomery County is divided into two different sets of districts. There are five districts for Board of Education elections. Blair is contained in District Four, which is currently represented by Kermit Burnett, who faces re-election this year. In addition, one at-large member is elected by the entire county. Sharon Cox is the current at-large member, and she also faces re-election this year. For the purposes of County Council elections, Montgomery County is also divided into five districts, but they are different than Board of Education districts. Blair is contained in the fifth "Councelmanic" district.