State agencies with the authority to adopt regulations must follow the State's Administrative Procedures Act, State Government Article, §10-101 et seq., Annotated Code of Maryland, when adopting regulations. These requirements include review by the Maryland General Assembly's Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review Committee, publication in the Maryland Register, and public comment on proposed new regulations and changes to existing regulations.

The Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) is organized by title, with the name of title corresponding to the name of the agency with authority to adopt regulations. For example, the State Board of Elections is authorized under section 2-102 of the Election Law Article to adopt regulations to implement its powers and duties. Regulations adopted by the State Board of Elections are located in Title 33 - State Board of Elections of COMAR.

The State's Division of State Documents publishes COMAR in two formats. The Division has an online, searchable version of COMAR and sells a printed version. The online version is updated as soon as a proposed regulation is effective, and updates to the printed version are printed bi-annually.

Proposed Changes to Regulations

The State Board of Elections has currently proposed changes to existing regulations or new regulations, and these regulations are in various stages of the process defined by the Administrative Procedures Act.

1. Various Subtitles: Proposed changes to a variety of subtitles (PDF) were published in the April 6th edition of the Maryland Register. The public comment period began on April 6th and ended on May 7th.


2. Central Count Procedures, Campaign Financing, & Technical Changes: Proposed changes related to central count procedures (33.08.04), campaign financing (33.13.06.03), and two technical changes to challengers and watchers regulations (33.07.07) were published in the May 4th edition of the Maryland Register. Once the proposed changes are published in the Maryland Register, the text of the proposed changes will be available here. The public comment period began on May 4th and will end on June 4th.

All public comments must be submitted by the deadline to Nikki Baines Trella, State Board of Elections, P.O. Box 6486, Annapolis MD 21401-0486, ntrella@elections.state.md.us, or 410.974.2019 (fax).